


Time Out (Episode 4)

by JB Harris (LizAna)



Series: The Timeless Chronicles [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Captain of the Innuendo Squad, Crossover, Doctor Who References, Ianto Jones being in love with Jack Harkness a lot, M/M, Original Character(s), Reunion, Torchwood References, jack harkness flirting with everyone all the time, jack's past causing problems, janto, random people dying, references to previous works in the series, so much janto, unplanned angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-09 21:47:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13490436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizAna/pseuds/JB%20Harris
Summary: (Not necessary to read previous works in series before reading this one - usually do a quick recap in the opening chap)Jack turns up on the TARDIS after realising he couldn't let Ianto and The Doctor go off and have all the fun without him. However, instead of making sure Ianto and The Doctor don't get in trouble without him, Jack lands them in a sticky situation when they run across someone from his past. Jack owes the High Empress of Orilon, and she's not letting them go anywhere until she gets her due... whatever that might entail. The Doctor needs to get this situation sorted out so they can get on with the real issue of finding a way to get the biochip removed from Ianto's brain and stop the Timeless before they can achieve their goal of immortality. If only Jack Harkness and his uncontrollable flirting would stop getting them into trouble.





	1. Chapter 1

The Doctor weaved through the crowd, leading Ianto Jones back to where they’d left the TARDIS. The space station in the Lercise Cluster was teeming with beings from all kinds of destinations across the universe. It was a place people went to get lost, or to find things, depending on what had brought those being here.

For her and Ianto, it had been simple; they’d been seeking out someone who might be able to remove the biochip Ianto had in his head—put there by a race of beings called the Timeless who wanted to achieve immortality. They’d planned on using Ianto to trap Jack Harkness, and their method for doing that had been quite unfortunate. Every time Ianto saw Jack, he was taken by the overwhelming urge to kill him and keep killing him.

While Jack stayed back at Torchwood in Cardiff, safe from both Ianto and the Timeless, her mission to get the biochip removed wasn’t going all that well so far.

“Well, that was a big fat waste of time,” Ianto grumbled, frowning as they navigated the crowded bazaar. The TARDIS was just visible in the distance where they’d left it between a colourful stall selling jewels and another that catered to people with body-tech upgrades.

Ianto tilted his head, glancing sideways as if listening to someone no one else could see. Which he was. Athena. Hard to explain. A girl who’d been a sentient ship. They’d rescued her from a dead planet overrun by biomechanical insects that’d been like a living nightmare. Except the only way to rescue her had been to let her hitch a ride with Ianto. By sharing his mind. Outside of the TARDIS, Ianto was the only one who could see or hear Athena. Inside, however, The Doctor had configured Athena’s energy signature through the TARDIS’s interface and hard light projector, making Athena into a solid entity—anyone could see, hear, or touch her.

Problem was, Ianto kept forgetting this little fact whenever they left the TARDIS. They’d gotten more than a few curious glances today when it’d seemed like Ianto was talking to himself and his imaginary friends. The Doctor, however, had found it highly entertaining.

“What’s Athena saying?”

“She’s telling me not to give up so easily,” he replied, clearly not appreciating the advice.

“Well, she’s right. This was only the first try, and I knew it might be a long shot. There are still a few other people who owe me favours and might be able to deal with this level of technology.”

“And how long is that going to take?” He stumbled a step, as if someone had shoved him. “ _Ow_. What was that for?”

He glared at the empty air next to him and then rolled his eyes. “Fine. Okay.”

Turning, he shoved his hands into his pockets and sent her a slightly bashful look. Athena had obviously taken him to task. The Doctor had to bite her lower lip to stop from grinning about it.

“I’m sorry if I seem ungrateful,” he said, sliding an annoyed look at the empty air again. “I know you’re going out of your way to help me and I do appreciate it. I just—it’s just hard, is all. So much has happened, I never dreamt of being anywhere else but at Torchwood in Cardiff, as uninspired as that sounds. And after Jack I never wanted—”

He looked away across the bazaar, a myriad of emotions crossing his face.

“I understand, Ianto, you don’t need to explain.” She looked to where she thought Athena might be standing. “And you, Miss, give the poor man a break. He’s having Captain Jack withdrawals. Those fifty first century pheromones are hard to kick.”

“Hilarious,” Ianto muttered darkly.

When she continued to stare at him with a straight face, both his eyebrows hiked up.

“You are joking, aren’t you?”

She let the grin slip free, leaving him sighing in relief. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Come on, our next stop is a platform at the ruins of the Trixilion mining belt.”

The Doctor spun on her heel and continued toward the TARDIS, Ianto coming after her. A few steps from the doors of the TARDIS—once they were within the shields—Athena materialised.

“…some of that cake we had last night. Can I eat it for breakfast?” Athena was saying to Ianto as she become solid.

“Cake is not really considered a breakfast food,” Ianto replied. “If you’re going to eat it, can you maybe just stick to one piece? I swear I spent hours feeling bloated after you polished off those four piece of chocolate mud cake.”

The Doctor smiled at the pair’s antics as she pushed through the blue wood panelled door. They were almost like siblings. Funnily enough, this wasn’t the first time she’d been left feeling like she’d somehow ended up travelling the time vortex with a couple of kids.

She’d walked halfway along the metal ramp to the control console before she noticed the figure leaning idly against it, dark coat elegantly draping the lines of his body like usual. She stopped in surprise, causing both Ianto and Athena to bump into her.

She heard Ianto’s sharp intake of breath, but Athena was the one who reacted first.

“Jack!” She practically squealed his name in excitement and then ran the remaining distance.

Surprise flitted over Jack’s face a second before Athena launched herself into the air and Jack automatically caught her in his arms against his chest.

“Well, hello to you too,” Jack said with a laugh. He leaned back so he could see Athena’s face. “And who might you be?”

“Jack, really?” The Doctor sighed in exasperation. Honestly, she didn’t know how Ianto put up with him. The man couldn’t even say hello without flirting.

“I’m Athena.” She adjusted her grip on Jack to look over her shoulder at Ianto, who had his hands in his pockets and was looking on with an expression that somehow landed right between joy and agony. “Ianto, how can you just be standing there? Everything I can feel surging through your body right now—”

“Okay,” Jack abruptly set Athena down and took a decent sized step back from her. “Someone wanna explain what’s going on here?”

Oh. No, she really didn’t want to do that. Lord only knew how Jack was going to take the news that Ianto was sharing his mind with another sentient being.

“What are you doing here, Jack?” Ianto asked in a quiet voice that nonetheless carried as if he had yelled.

Jack actually looked uncertain for a moment. “Well, I still had a key and a standing invitation—”

“That’s not what I’m asking,” Ianto cut in with a sigh.

“Fine. It took me less than an hour to realise I was an idiot to let the two of you go off without me. Admittedly it then took me another three hours to organise things so Gwen could run Torchwood in my absence—”

“You’re telling me you actually made provisions for extended leave instead of just disappearing without a word?” Ianto demanded. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Jack Harkness?”

Jack sliced a look at The Doctor, probably because it had partly been her fault he’d left in such a hurry last time. Truthfully, she had been trying to ditch him, even though she wasn’t proud of it. As a fixed point in time, Jack pretty much went against everything she was as a Time Lord—Lady. It had taken a lot to even be around him without getting a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. But what happened to him hadn’t been his fault, and though she hadn’t thought it through at the time, she’d later realised that abandoning him so callously had inadvertently hurt one of the few long-time friends she had left.

“Okay, I probably deserved that.” Jack stepped past Athena, cautiously closing the distance between him and Ianto, as if worried Ianto was going to run off on him. “But seriously, Ianto, I couldn’t just sit back in Cardiff and wonder what was happening to you out here. I told you I loved you and I meant it—”

“You did?” Ianto interrupted, clearly surprised and a little confused.

“Oh, right. Maybe I didn’t tell you exactly. There was this thing with this ancient evil called Syriath resurrecting ghosts, and it brought you back, but you didn’t remember that you were dead. You sacrificed yourself again to close the rift and I told you that I loved you—”

“That became an alternate timeline when I brought Ianto back in 2018,” The Doctor interrupted, earning an annoyed look from both Jack and Ianto. “Sorry, just saying.”

“My point is,” Jack said, holding up both hands as he edged closer to Ianto. “Maybe I wasn’t always good at showing it, but we both knew we were going steady, as you liked to put it. We were a couple, even though I hate the word. I’d made a commitment to you. We lost—I lost nine years without you. I know you’re worried about hurting me—killing me. And maybe I’m being selfish. Maybe this isn’t fair on you. But Ianto—”

Jack took a ragged breath, stopping less than two steps away from Ianto and lowering his hands, gaze taking him in like he was starved. 

“I don’t want to spend anymore time apart. If you’re fighting, then I’m going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and fight with you. If you’re traipsing around the ass-end of the universe, then I’ll be right there next to you. I’ll even carry the bags. Just, please, don’t make me stay behind.”

Ianto clearly couldn’t hold out against Jack’s emotional plea.

“Did you really mean it?” Ianto asked in a rough voice.

“Did I mean what?” Jack asked, a little thrown.

“What you told my ghost or whatever.”

“That I love you? Ianto, I told you that the day The Doctor brought you back in 2018.”

Ianto glanced away, clearly struggling with this. “I just thought, you know—we were both emotional. You hadn’t seen me for nine years and— You’ve said it before and not meant it, not really—”

“Ianto.” There was frustration in Jack’s voice, but it seemed to be mostly directed at himself. “I was an idiot to ever let you think I never meant it, even once. I had nine years and four hours to realise that very clearly.”

“Jack—”

Jack shifted forward, cupping Ianto’s face between his palms. “Ianto Jones, I love you. _I love you_ , for so many reasons. But mostly because, damn it, you just look so good in a suit.”

Ianto gave a soft exasperated laugh. “It’d kill you to be serious for even a second, wouldn’t it?”

“Probably. But seriously, your ass in those trousers. I never stood a chance,” Jack replied with a wide grin, looking like he’d won the cosmic lottery. He started to lean in, but Ianto ducked his kiss.

“Jack, there’s something you need to know. Athena, she’s me. I mean, she’s part of me, in my head.”

“What?” Jack leaned back, confusion creasing his expression.

“That’s why she knew what I was feeling. She’s sharing my mind.”

“How the hell did that happen?” Jack demanded, seeming like he didn’t know whether he should be angry or amazed.

“It’s a long story. Basically, we had to do it to save her life.” Ianto blushed a little. “But the thing is, whatever happens to me, whatever I feel, she feels. Which mean when you kiss me…”

“It’s like you’re kissing me as well,” Athena said dreamily, leaning against the control console.

“Well, isn’t that interesting?” Jack’s grin turned suave as he glanced over his shoulder at Athena. “Athena, you ever been kissed by an immortal guy from the 51st century?”

“No! I’ve never been kissed at all!” Athena sounded like she didn’t know whether she was terrified or excited.

“Well, then, you’re about to have one hell of a day.”

“Jack—” Ianto’s tone held a hint of steely warning as he backed up a step. But he bumped into the railing and had nowhere else to go before Jack pressed into him and caught his mouth in what could only be described as an entirely hedonistic kiss.

Ianto didn’t seem all that inclined to escape any longer, and over by the console, Athena made a surprised breathy noise before slouching against the control panel with a dazed expression on her face.

“Oh, good lord.” The Doctor rolled her eyes as she went over to the console and fired up the engines.

“Jack Harkness, I’m implementing a new no-kissing policy on board the TARDIS,” she called out as the engines whooshed to life.

Jack laughed as he broke the kiss and stepped back from Ianto. “Feeling left out, Doctor? I’m sure Ianto won’t mind if we share just one, for old time’s sake.”

Ianto cleared his throat, straightening his tie. “Actually, Ianto would mind. And until we get this situation sorted out with Athena, no kissing sounds like an excellent policy.”

Jack indolently leaned an arm on the railing and watched as Ianto walked past him to join The Doctor at the control console.

“Well, it’s a little disappointing, but I can work with no kissing. Leaves plenty of things I can do with my hands—”

“Stop it.” Both The Doctor and Ianto said at the same time.

“Buzzkill,” he muttered with an unabashed smile. “So, I’ve been here a whole ten minutes and you haven’t tried to kill me yet. That’s a good sign.”

“Athena is blocking the chip’s ability to control my mind,” Ianto said with a glance at Athena who was waving a hand in front of her face like she was overheated.

“She is? Athena, I think you’re my new favourite person.” He winked at her, making her cheeks bloom an even deeper red colour.

The Doctor glanced at Ianto who was rolling his eyes for the third time since they’d returned and found Jack waiting for them.

“Your boyfriend is an incorrigible flirt,” she told him. She couldn’t quite keep the amusement out of her voice, even though she was trying for stern.

Ianto heaved a sigh. “I know. Except for some reason, it only makes him more lovable.”

The Doctor gave a quick laugh. “It does, doesn’t it? Go figure that one out.”

“So.” Jack clapped his hands together enthusiastically. “Where are we off to next?”


	2. Chapter 2

“The ruins of the famous Trexilion mining belt.”

Ianto watched The Doctor throw a lever with extra flourish as the TARDIS engines powered down. He couldn’t believe Jack had just turned up without warning. It was infuriating and interfering and assuming on his part… And he couldn’t remember the last time anything had made him happier. Next to him, Athena sighed dreamily, gazing at him with a bemused smile. He sent her a quelling look and hoped she could hear him telling her to quit it.

“A tourist destination? How does that help Ianto?” Jack replied sceptically to The Doctor. “What are you going to find here besides obnoxious Klaurites and gawking school groups from the Rambling Nebula?”

The Doctor suddenly seemed fascinated by something on the TARDIS control panel. “Oh, you know, this and that.”

Jack crossed his arms. “Doctor.”

“Fine.” The Doctor huffed a sigh and spun to face him. “We’re going to Pleasant Celestial Waters.”

“The retirement station for doddering old folk?”

“Old, yes. Doddering—” The Doctor threw up her hands in defeat. “Alright, yes. Most of them are doddering. But it’s where some of the most brilliant minds in the universe have—”

“Been put to pasture,” Jack put in. “Shuffled off. Sent to the house of the waiting dead.”

“At least they didn’t end up as a giant head in a jar,” The Doctor muttered.

“What?” Jack said, expression creasing in confusion.

“Nothing, never mind.” She turned from Jack dismissively to look at Ianto. “We’re going to see Doctor Theroux, who made the most extensive study of the human brain ever undertaken. He might not know anything about the technology of the biochip, but I’m hoping he’ll know of a way to remove it without—” The Doctor waved a hand around his head. “Turning your brain to mush.”

“Yes, if we could avoid brain mush, that would be my preference,” he replied in a dry voice.

“Well, let’s hop to it, then.” The Doctor brushed by him and went to gather her coat from where she’d tossed it over one of the seats earlier.

“Shall we?” Jack stepped over and offered his arm with a wink.

Athena slipped in between them before he could react. “Don’t mind if I do.”

She sent Ianto a cheeky grin, while Jack just shrugged as if to say _oh well_ and let Athena tug him along after the Doctor. Ianto followed behind them as they stepped out of the TARDIS doors. They’d landed on some kind of huge see-through domed platform. Above them, through the curved glass of the dome was what he presumed were the ruins of the mining belt scattered and floating in the non-atmosphere of space. There were secondary stations protruding out from the central dome with all kinds of flashing signs boasting lots of touristy-type stuff.

“Three, two, one,” he counted down under his breath as they stepped beyond the shields of the TARDIS and Athena disappeared. Well, not to him. To him she became incorporeal; he could still see her, but she was like a ghost that objects passed through.

Jack pulled to a stop and looked around in surprise. “Where did she go?”

“She’s still right next to you,” he answered. “It’s just that once we leave the TARDIS, no one else can see or hear her except me.”

“She’s not real outside of Ianto’s head, Jack.” The Doctor said over her shoulder. “What you see inside the TARDIS is just a hard light projection.”

Jack shook his head, looking as though he was trying to get his mind around that fact. “I knew it was a bad idea to let the two of you go off on your own. Lucky I caught up to you when I did or who knows what other trouble you would have found.”

“I’m not trouble!” Athena protested, even though no one else could hear her.

“Yes, you are,” Ianto told her with a smirk, leaving her frowning at him.

“Come on,” The Doctor called out. She was walking off across the platform, coat flaring slightly behind her.

Athena dropped back to walk next to him while Jack stepped ahead to stride next to The Doctor.

“And I thought your memories of Jack were entertaining,” Athena said to him. “The real-life version is so much more diverting.”

He cut her a sideways glare. “You know, I’m starting to think we should have established some boundaries—”

“Boundaries? _Pfft_!” Athena scoffed dismissively. “Not going to happen. Not when we’re sharing one mind. You know what, though?”

She leaned in closer, expression serious like she had something important to impart.

“What?” he asked in a low voice, since Jack had glanced back at him a moment ago and shook his head, presumably over the fact that it looked like he was talking to himself.

“Kissing is really fun. We should do it more often.”

He sighed, relieved Jack couldn’t hear this conversation. Only god knew what he’d start suggesting. The girl had vast stores of knowledge in her mind—just peeking at them was enough to make his head feel like it was going to explode. Despite that, she also had a contrasting air of complete innocence.

“Athena, kissing isn’t really a thing three people can do. Or two people and a sentient ship, if we’re being technical.”

Athena’s expression creased, partly in confusion, but partly in disappointment. “Really? Because one time you, Jack and—”

“Let’s just concentrate on finding this doctor so I can maybe get the biochip out of my head,” he hurriedly cut in before she could finish blurting out half his private life. It’d only been the one time and admittedly they’d been quite drunk. Probably he more so that Jack and the gorgeous blond waitress— He shook his head as Athena grinned shamelessly at him. “And then I’m definitely going to do something about the nosey girl taking up half my consciousness.”

Athena just smiled serenely at him, because she knew how he’d quickly developed an affection for her that meant pretty much all of his threats were empty ones.

They’d gotten about halfway across the huge open space when two figures suddenly materialized right in front of them. The men were both wearing slim fitting colourful suits that were almost gaudy. One of them was holding what looked to be some kind of clipboard, except it had a thin piece of plastic with electronic information scrolling across it clipped to the front instead of paper.

“You have arrived on the Trexilion mining belt platform without registering any visitor information forms,” the man with the clipboard said. “Please state the reason for your visit.”

“Forms and red tape,” The Doctor mumbled, searching her pockets. “You people just love your forms and red tape. Ah-ha!”

She pulled out her psychic paper and flipped it open.  “We’re from the—”

“That paper is blank,” the man with the clip board interrupted.

The Doctor looked deflated. “Oh. Doesn’t work on you, huh? That’s something. The percentage of people who can see through the psychic paper is point zero-zero—”

“Please state your reason for visiting,” the man repeated impatiently.

“I can take care of this,” Jack murmured, stepping forward with his signature beaming smile. “Hi. I’m Captain Jack—”

“No.” The Doctor cut him off with an exasperated glare. “None of that, now.”

Jack sent her a clearly unimpressed look in return.

“If you cannot state your reasons for visiting, you will be apprehended by the High Empress of Orilon.”

“I’m sorry, did you say the _High Empress of Orilon_?” Jack repeated, sounding taken aback.

Oh great. Ianto knew that tone of voice. Was he about to meet another one of Jack’s ex-lovers? Even in the far reaches of the galaxy, he couldn’t get away from Jack’s obviously extensive past.

“You two know each other?” he asked, not quite able to keep the snark out of his voice as he crossed his arms. Athena took a que from him and started glaring at Jack. Not that he could see it.

Jack sent him a quick look that was all but begging for forgiveness already. “You could say that. But its not what you think.”

“You always say that. Then most of the time, it turns out to be exactly what I think.”

“Okay, that’s been true maybe twice, three times tops—”

“Now isn’t really the time to be having this conversation,” The Doctor interrupted as several more figures materialized around them, penning them in. And they were all holding weapons.

“The High Empress of Orilon takes security on the platform very seriously,” the man with the clipboard replied, obviously annoyed now. “You will be taken into custody until your reasons for traveling to the Trexilion platform can be verified.”

“Then take us to your leader,” The Doctor announced like she was acting in some overblown stage drama. She glanced at them with a gleeful smile. “I never get tired of saying that.”

“No, don’t take us to your leader,” Jack held up his hands, easing back a step. “We’ll just get in our ship and get out of your hair. It’ll be like you never saw us. In fact, that’s a great idea. Pretend you never saw us, make like we weren’t even here.”

Well, whatever had happened between Jack and the empress, it seemed it hadn’t ended well. Probably Jack had left without a word. It was kind of his thing.

The Doctor arched an eyebrow at Jack. “Is there a problem we need to know about, Captain?”

“Not a problem. More a slight inconvenience,” Jack was clearly hedging, which he always did when he knew they weren’t going to be impressed with whatever he had to tell them. “Not even an inconvenience. We’ll just call it a tiny glitch and get out of here. I’m sure there are other neural scientists we can go see.”

Ianto crossed his arms and settled an admonishing look on Jack as he stared helplessly back, clearly realizing he was in trouble.

“Jack, what did you do to the empress?”

“It’s not so much what I did to her—”

“Jack!” Both he and The Doctor said in exasperation at the same time.

“Okay, okay.” He set his hand on his hips and took what was obviously a fortifying breath. “See, the thing is, the empress— Well, she kind of owns me.”

“She _what_?” he sputtered, since it was the last thing he’d expected to hear.

Jack’s expression turned sheepish. “Technically—in this part of the universe at least—I’m legally the property of the High Empress of Orilon.”


	3. Chapter 3

Jack tried to judge how Ianto was taking this latest tidbit from his past, but couldn’t get much more of a read than complete shock. Not surprising, he supposed. Wasn’t everyday he admitted to being owned. Literally.

Of all the damned luck, the High Empress of Orilon being here. When he’d last seen her, she’d been loathed to leave the palace, let alone the stronghold city built around it. He’d known the Trexilion mining platform was on the outer edges of the Orilon territories, but the thought she might actually be here hadn’t even crossed his mind. It was like him finding the smallest, most inconsequential village in all of Wales and deciding to take a weekend trip there from Cardiff.

The men surrounding them closed in and they were all unceremoniously cuffed and then marched across the platform toward a side door.

“So you were her what, exactly?” Ianto demanded, finally finding his voice. “Some kind of slave?”

“Something like that.” He didn’t know why he was still trying to avoid the truth. It was going to come out once he got dragged in front of Dinah.

Ianto’s brows lowered, clearly not satisfied with his answer. “Jack.”

He released a short sigh of exasperation. “Fine. I was her pleasure slave, alright? Although, slave is such a demeaning word. I’d say companion but—” The Doctor cut him a sharp look and he laughed. “Okay, we’ll say I was her special friend. But only for a few months. Then she got bored of me and took this gorgeous little Elodian to her bed, legs up to her ears and red hair down to her very nice ass. I got demoted to schnoodle nanny and decided it was time to move on. I escaped and planned to avoid the Orilon territories for the rest of my life. Of course, that was before I became immortal and the rest of my life became forever.”

Now Ianto was just looking plain confused. “Schnoodle? Isn’t that a type of dog?”

“On Earth, yes. On Orilon, think fluffy cute puppy mixed with bad-tempered mountain lion. Can’t tell you how many times I got bitten, and not in the fun way.”

Ianto rolled his eyes and then glanced to the right, obviously listening to something Athena was saying. Jack still couldn’t get his head around the fact that Ianto was sharing his mind with another sentient being. They hadn’t had the chance to discuss exactly how that had happened or what The Doctor planned to do in order to rectify it. But he couldn’t say he was upset about Athena. She seemed sweet, and most importantly, she was blocking the biochip and stopping Ianto from wanting to kill him. Though he might have been wiling to die a million times over rather than be apart from Ianto, he had seen how upsetting and distressing it’d been for Ianto the single time he’d followed through on the compulsion. Which was why he’d let Ianto and The Doctor fly off in the TARDIS without him. But it hadn’t taken him long to realize that he couldn’t just stand back and let Ianto fight this battle without him.

“What did Athena say?” Jack asked as they were led through another doorway and down a bare corridor.

Ianto cast him an amused glanced. “She said I should kick you in the shins since she can’t do it.”

“Athena, I thought you were on my side here,” he told the thin air where he thought she was walking.

Ianto didn’t relay whether or not Athena replied as they were roughly shoved through a door into a kind of cell. There was a recess panel where a toilet and sink lowered in one corner, several fold-down cots attached to one wall and a long bench on the opposite side. No windows, just round yellowish lights at intervals all the way around the room. Everything else was white.

“Well, this is cosy,” Jack did a lap, running a finger over the perfectly clean surfaces.

Ianto went and sat on the bench, leaning back against the wall. “What was it you said about _us_ finding trouble, Jack?”

“At least my kind of trouble won’t get us killed?” He added a charming smile after he said the words, hoping neither of them were really too angry with him.

Both Ianto and The Doctor looked singularly unimpressed with that piece of logic. He didn’t have a leg to stand on, and they all knew it. With a sigh, he went over to sit next to Ianto, close enough that their shoulders were brushing.

“It’ll be fine. It’s been years, The empress can’t still care that much. I’ll just offer her some kind of recompense and then she’ll let us go on our way.”

“What’s she like, the empress?” The Doctor asked. She had her sonic screwdriver out and was idly scanning the walls.

He thought back to the few tumultuous months he’d spent in the palace after getting caught trying to con the empress’s nephew. Instead of sentencing Jack to the nearby penal moon, the empress had decided his crime should be worked off through servitude. It’d been fun at first and he thought he’d gotten off easy—in more ways than one—until she’d become bored and put him in charge of her spoiled, ill-tempered pet.

“The empress is gorgeous, intelligent, charming, loves to flirt with everyone, and generally have a good time. But don’t let that fool you, she can be utterly ruthless when she needs to be.”

“So basically,” Ianto put in, gaining his attention. “She’s a female version of you.”

Ianto sent him a small grin that told him he knew he’d won that round, while in the background The Doctor gave a short laugh.

“Ha-ha, very funny” he replied in a dry voice. “But seriously, if we end up getting an audience with her, just let me handle it.”

“Oh yes, I can already imagine how you’re going to _handle_ it,” Ianto muttered under his breath.

Jack reached over with both his cuffed hands and took Ianto’s fingers, squeezing gently. “You’re the only one I’m interested in handling these days.”

Though Ianto nodded with a quick smile, the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes, and Jack could see the tiniest shadow of insecurity that occasionally surfaced; one Ianto had always possessed and tried to hide since the first night they’d kissed; the worry he wasn’t enough for Jack.

And he hadn’t exactly helped matters by running off with The Doctor that time and occasionally pulling back and shutting Ianto out emotionally when things got hard. Because he always ended up alone, and that was the way he was used to dealing with things.

When Ianto had died, waking up from his own short demise and knowing Ianto was gone, it had been like a thousand knives in his chest. And he’d never recovered from it, not really. Even now that he had Ianto back, he had this miraculous second chance, but it was still like something inside him was just a little fractured. And the fact was, this second chance was temporary, because one day Ianto would die again, and he already had firsthand experience of exactly what that felt like.

He glanced away, not able to reassure him, not when he the was the one who was going to end up hurt worse in the long run.

The door to the cell opened and the man who’d been holding the clipboard earlier stepped in, the door closing behind him again. “The empress will see you now.”

The man pointed a slim device at them, and Jack recognised it as a remote teleporter. He pulled Ianto to his feet a second before a blinding flash and momentary sense of weightlessness hit him. By the time he exhaled, they were standing in what looked to be some kind of receiving room.

He glanced at Ianto who was shaking his head slightly. Jack reached up and set his hands on Ianto’s shoulder to steady him. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Ianto replied, even though he looked a bit dizzy. Teleportation could do a number on a person if they weren’t used to it.

“Well, hello, you.”

Jack glanced from Ianto and across the room to where a figure sashayed in through doors that opened onto a garden. She wore an elegant grey knee-length dress and a few simple pieces of jewellery. She was a number years older than when Jack had last seen her, but just as beautiful, if not more so.

“Empress, good to see you again. Captain Jack Harkness.”

She arched a delicate eyebrow at him. “That’s what you’re going with these days, is it?”

He didn’t glance at The Doctor or Ianto, though he could feel their attention on him, since neither of them knew his real name. Not many people in the universe did. The empress certainly didn’t. He’d been going under a different fake name during the time he’d spent with her.

“So, _Jack_.” She came closer, clasping her hands behind her back as she did a lap around them. “You’ve returned after all these years and brought such pretty friends with you.”

She stopped her perusal in front of Ianto and reached up to trail a finger along his jaw, sending tension rippling through Jack’s body. It might have been years, but he recognized that look on her face and he didn’t like it one bit. No way was he going to stand by and watch her have Ianto as one of her playthings.

“If we’re being honest, it wasn’t planned,” he said baldly, hoping to gain her attention.

“Well, then.” She stepped away from Ianto with a wide smile that on the surface looked completely friendly and open. But he knew better. She was calculating what she could get out of this even as they spoke.  “It was fortuitous for me, wasn’t it?”

“I understand you’ll be wanting remuneration for the months I failed to serve before leaving.” He tilted his chin up a little, going for diplomatic. Of course, it was hard to look like he was taking a strong negotiating position with the distinct disadvantage of having his wrists cuffed in front of himself.

The empress clapped her hands together. “Oh, I see. That’s why your brought your friends. You want me to pick one to serve out the remainder of the sentence on your behalf.”

“That’s not what I—”

“What good idea!” she said right over top of him, clearly toying with them. She passed a thoughtful look between The Doctor, who simple arched an eyebrow in disbelief, and then to Ianto who was actually looking slightly worried.

“Your blond friend is quite scrumptious. But these blue eyes over here—” She returned to stand in front of Ianto, her expression almost predatory, like a lioness surveying her next meal. “These blue eyes are too good to pass up. And those lips. With that hair. Jack, I may be displeased with you, but there’s no denying you’ve got good taste.”

“Dinah,” he said, making sure there was a clear note of warning in his voice. He took hold of Ianto’s upper arm and shuffled him back, moving in front of him. “This is between us.”

“Oh, look how protective you’re getting. Is he your pet, sweetcakes?”

Behind him, Ianto muttered something angrily, but Jack kept himself planted firmly in front of him.

“Enough playing now. Name your price so we can be on our way.”

“My price?” The empress gave a cold laugh. “Ah, Jack. It always was about money for you, wasn’t it? Money and a good time. It might surprise you to know that I’ve changed.”

She walked over and sat down at a small round table covered in a white cloth that was laid out with a few fruits, snacks, wine, juice and water.

“So have I,” Jack replied in a low voice. “Time does that to people.”

He could see The Doctor looking at him with a weighted expression from the corner of his eye, but didn’t take his attention off the empress.

She delicately made herself a plate of food. “What I want can’t be quantified in money. It’s much more priceless.”

Well, that didn’t sound good. “If its something you need me to go and get—”

She sent him an indulgent smile. “And it’s not something you can simply fetch me.”

“Then what is it?” He tried to keep the impatience out of his voice, because if she thought he was being demanding then she could make things very unpleasant for them, very quickly.

“Actually, its quite simple. I wish to have a child, Jack.”

He felt Ianto stiffen behind him, but his own mind had stumbled over the surprise of her statement, never expecting it.

“You want a child? A baby?” he clarified, because his brain had finally caught up, leaving him with a bad feeling of where this might be going.

“Yes. It’s about time I ensured my line of succession.”

“Okay,” he replied slowly, hoping to god she wasn’t about to say what he thought she was.

“There are pretty men all throughout the Orilon territories, but I feel like its time to bring new blood, new DNA into the family line. And you Jack, are so very pretty.”

“I wouldn’t say _pretty_. More like—”

Ianto nudged him sharply in the back, cutting him off.

“And you brought your gorgeous blue-eyed pet with you. I’m in a magnanimous mood, so I’ll let the two of you decide. But one of you will provide me with the means to produce a child.”

Ianto inhaled sharply, while The Doctor stood by, watching with interest like this was happening to complete strangers.

“Any time you want to help, here,” he said to The Doctor.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” she replied with a smirk. “After all, you did say you were going to _handle_ it.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, turning around to face Ianto.

“Surely you can negotiate something else,” Ianto said in a quiet voice before he could get a single word out.

“I could try, I will try. But it’s probably pointless. She’s as stubborn as hell, and if this is what she’s decided on, then it’s doubtful we’ll be able to change her mind.”

“Okay, if you can’t change her mind, then I’ll do it,” Ianto offered determinedly, surprising the hell out of him.

“Excuse me?” He felt both his eyebrows hiking up.

“Jack, you’ve already had and lost how many children and grandchildren? I only know of one, Steven. But I’m sure there are more. And I’m also sure every single one of them is yet another soul weighing down your conscience because you’ll always outlive them.”

His chest started aching over the fact that Ianto would do this for him. Just to protect him from the eventual hurt of it.

“Ianto, this is a _child_ we’re talking about. It would be your child.”

He gave a tight nod, glancing away. “I’d never thought seriously about kids. I mean, when I was with Lisa, I used to imagine that eventually— But we were so young, and I thought we had years. That’s all gone now. All those dreams are gone.”

“Ianto.” He reached up and touched his fingers to Ianto’s chin, making him look up to meet his eyes.

The sad yet resigned expression in Ianto’s gaze was breaking his heart and he had no idea what he hell he was supposed to say to that.

“Let’s not make any decisions right now.” He glanced over at the empress for confirmation and she gave an almost imperceptible nod. “We’ve got time to talk about it.”

“You’ve got exactly four days,” the empress said airily.

“What happens in four days?” Jack asked, wondering why she’d settled on that specific number.

A satisfied smile tilted up her lips as she picked up her glass of juice. “In four days I’ll be fertile. And I’m rather thinking that I’d like to indulge in conceiving the old-fashioned way.”


	4. Chapter 4

Well, Jack’s past had put him and possibly Ianto in quite a pickle. The Doctor had been idly surveying the conversation, debating how far to let things go before she intervened. Really, it was Jack’s problem, and if Ianto hadn’t been pulled into it, she might have left Jack to his own devices—whatever that ended up entailing. But this was clearly upsetting Ianto and the poor lad had been through enough in recent times.

She didn’t believe what Jack had said about not being able to negotiate different terms with the High Empress. Maybe Jack himself didn’t have the leverage to convince the empress that her solution wasn’t the only answer, but The Doctor was confident she would be able to talk the empress around. It was just a matter of finding something the woman needed or wanted more than a child.

While both Ianto and Jack were exchanging glances and frowns, apparently having some kind of silent disagreement over the empress’s announcement that she wanted to conceive her chid the _old-fashioned way_ , The Doctor stepped over and sat herself at the table.

She pulled her sonic screwdriver out and tossed it in the air, end over end, so when she caught it, the device was pointed in the opposite direction then gave it a quick buzz, making the cuffs drop away from her wrists.

“So, High Empress, how is the war with the Prynese going?” She helped herself to a plate, picking out a few pieces of fruit.

“Expensively,” the empress replied, seeming undecided if she was amused or annoyed.

Jack edged over, leading a reluctant Ianto, before Jack held his cuffed wrists out with a questioning expression.

“And your wife, the Grand Empress, she didn’t travel with you?” The Doctor leaned over and freed the pair with her sonic screwdriver, before indicating they should sit in the other two empty seats. While Jack immediately started loading up a plate with everything like he hadn’t eaten for a month, Ianto sat stiffly in his seat like he was ready to get up again at a moment’s notice, clearly not comfortable.  

The empress looked uneasy for a brief moment before her expression became smooth and unaffected again. “We had a slight disagreement. Or, perhaps several disagreements over a number of things. We decided some time apart might be beneficial.”

“She finally kicked you out, didn’t she?” Jack asked, not bothering to hide his amusement.

Honestly, it was like he wanted to put himself into deeper trouble. Did the man have no tact whatsoever? Jack poured himself a glass of water that had fruit floating in it, then poured one for the Empress. He glanced at her and Ianto, but they both shook their heads at him.

“Got sick of all the partying, huh?” Jack continued between bites of fruit and a gulp of water. “And let me guess, this idea of yours to have a child, that’s your way of showing Elora that you can be responsible?”

Clearly Jack was on to something, if the way the empress delicately shifted in her seat was any indication. But she certainly didn’t confirm Jack’s assessment. Nor did she deny it.

“My private life is not up for discussion.” The empress’s expression had become pinched. If they were going to talk her out of her proposal, then putting her into a bad mood certainly wasn’t the way to do it.

“The platform has expanded impressively since last time I was here,” The Doctor said, gaining the empress’s attention from where she was frowning at Jack.

“So you’ve been before? How long ago?”

“Oh, years.” She waved a hand, not wanting to get waylaid by the inevitable questions that would accompany the fact it’d actually been a few hundred years. “It’s much bigger now, and more glamorous.”

The empress gave a small smile after sipping at her water. “It has been my special project for a number of years now. I wanted to create an exclusive getaway for Orilon’s most prestigious citizens.”

“I would love to explore.” The Doctor added what she hoped was friendly, non-threatening smile to the words, aiming to appear like the sort of person who wasn’t up to anything when the exact opposite was true. It didn’t help that Ianto was giving her a suspicious sideways look. They had come here for a reason, after all. She wanted to see Doctor Theroux as soon as possible to ascertain whether he could help them or point them in the direction of someone else who could.

“So are we free to move about over the next four days?” she continued in a light tone like it was no big deal. “Or do you plan to keep us in your holding cells?”

The empress glanced around at them all. “I’ll let you go free on the platform. You’ll need to wear a tracking bracelet. I’d like to trust you, but Jack has already proven I can’t.”

She sent him a sickly-sweet smile, which he returned, though his had a sharper edge.

“Stop it, you’re hurting my feelings,” Jack drawled. Somehow even his cutting sarcasm came across flirty. There was honestly no hope for the man.

The empress leaned across the table. “If you had any feelings to hurt, sweetcakes, I would be astounded.”

It was almost imperceptible, but a wounded shadow momentarily passed through Jack’s gaze before he simply arched an eyebrow.

“Like you can talk.”

She shrugged, not insulted in the least, almost as though she’d taken it as a compliment. The empress picked up a device from the table and tapped the screen. A moment later the man from earlier who’d brought them from the holding cell materialised. He swayed on his feet momentarily before blinking and standing straighter.

“Yes, Empress?”

“Please fetch three trace-cuffs for our guests.” She eyed her servant as he nodded, clearly pale and sweating, before disappearing again.

The man hadn’t looked at all well, like he was coming down with something. The Doctor hoped it wasn’t the case. That was all they needed, for Jack or Ianto to catch some kind of exotic virus.

The four of them sat in silence while they waited, though Jack and Ianto seemed to be doing the talking-without-words thing again judging by the facial expressions they were exchanging. Clearly, they’d spent so much time together through working at Torchwood and then personal time after hours that they’d become like an old married couple, not that either of them would probably appreciate being told as much. Especially Jack. Imaging the look on his face was highly entertaining, however.

The servant returned with the trace-cuffs, confirming that it hadn’t been her imagination earlier and he really did look sick. As he came around the table and snapped a cuff on each of their writs, The Doctor noticed the man’s fingernails had a bluish tint, as did his lips, and the bags under his eyes almost made him look as though he’d been punched, leaving bruises.

“Gerrit, are you feeling well?” There was a real note of concern in the empress’s voice.

“Fine, Empress. Just a bit warm, is all.” After he said the words and finished clicking a cuff around Jack’s wrist last, the servant let out a high-pitched giggle. “Too warm. Too warm and too tickly. It’s funny all over.”

The empress frowned and snapped a hand around the servant’s wrist, pulling his hand over to study his fingers.

“You’ve got the blue tinges, Gerrit. How long ago did this appear?” The empress demanded before releasing him again, sounding more than a little annoyed.

The servant suddenly started struggling out of his jacket, laughing as he did so. “Don’t know. Too warm. All tickly. Can’t think.”

Once he was free of the jacket, he tossed it with a loud whoop. “Can you hear the music? We should all be dancing.”

“What the hell?” Jack muttered under his breath as the servant started tugging at his own shirt fastenings and singing very loudly and very off key.

“Not again,” the empress sighed, picking up her glass of water and lounging back in her chair with an unimpressed expression settling over her features, like she was ready to watch a stage show unfold she already knew to be terrible.

“Um, what’s happening?” Ianto spoke up, ducking as the servant’s shirt came sailing in his direction.

The empress reached over and tapped the screen of her device. “It always happens the same way. Fourth one this week. The other servants are calling it the taint.”

“Is it some kind of sickness?” The Doctor got to her feet slowly, pulling out her sonic screwdriver.

“I guess you could say that.” Now the empress just sounded bored.

“What happens to them?” The Doctor asked, edging around the table toward the man who seemed more than a little determined to strip off all his clothes. But he’d also become distracted scratching himself all over, turning this way and that, twisting himself into a spin.

“First, they feel clammy and have dizzy spells. Then they get the blue tint on their fingernails, then the bruises under their eyes, then the paleness and sweating, then they get hot and ticklish all over. Then the madness kicks in. Some get angry, most just laugh and take off their clothes.”

“And then?” The Doctor prompted, since the empress had only described the symptoms that Gerrit had already displayed. He’d gone still, swaying on his feet. Before the empress could say anything, he crumpled to the floor in a heap.

“And then they die.” The empress said as if discussing bad weather, not the life of an actual person. She tapped the screen of her device several more times. “Felipe, what’s taking you so long? There’s been another one.”

Two figures materialised across the other side of the room, but they were both female.

“Sorry, Highness, but Felipe has also succumbed to the taint.” The two women stood looking uncertain, obviously not used to dealing with the empress directly.

“By all the moons, I’ll have no servants left by the end of the week at this rate!” the empress huffed.

“Is it contagious, should we be worried?” Jack demanded in a hoarse voice. The Doctor looked over to see he’d shifted closer to Ianto and was clutching his hand tight enough to make his knuckles white. Ianto’s expression was pinched and drawn, and he was holding on to Jack just as firmly.

Of course, this would be dredging up all the memories of what’d happened with the 456 aliens for both of them—worse for Jack who’d spent nine years believing Ianto was dead.

“Do you think I’d still be here if it was?” The empress replied, as if the question was ridiculous. “I’ve had all kinds of doctors and specialists trying to find the answers, but they can’t work out what’s causing it. Nothing that can be seemingly transferred or caught, anyway.”

“Sounds like you just haven’t found the right kind of doctor.” She went over and knelt next to Gerrit, running her sonic screwdriver over him.

“Oh, are you a doctor? Why didn’t you say so?” The empress actually sounded somewhat interested now. Probably because she was calculating how she might use things to her advantage.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m The Doctor,” she replied a little distractedly as she checked the readings. “Some kind of naturally occurring psychotropic substance. Ingested. Probably twenty to twenty-two hours ago. Almost no trace of it left in the system, though.”

“They were drugged?” Jack clarified.

“Looks like it.” She pushed to her feet and motioned to the two women standing nearby. “Take him and put him wherever you put the others.”

The women complied, managing to lift the body between themselves before they disappeared in a brief flash of the teleportation device.

Returning to the table, The Doctor settled her attention on the empress. “I can figure out what’s causing this.”

“And in return?” The empress asked, obviously realising things rarely came for free in life.

“Jack is free to go, without providing you with the means to give you a child.”

The empress gave a short laugh. “There is no deal to be made, the two are nowhere near equal in value. You may go. I’m busy. I need to procure a new man servant, among other things.”

The Doctor wasn’t deterred. She motioned to Jack and Ianto, who came over to join her, still holding hands. “Let me know when you change your mind.”

Without waiting for the empress to reply, she led Jack and Ianto out of the room.

“Now what do we do?” Jack asked in a low voice as they stepped out into the wide, brightly lit corridor leading out of the empress’s private rooms.

“Now we find what’s causing the dreaded taint and killing the servants.”

“But she said—”

“I know what she said,” she interrupted Jack, cutting him a stern look. “But there are people dying and they need our help. Whether or not we can help ourselves remains to be seen. The only thing I know for sure, there’s a mystery here that needs to be solved. And I can never walk away from a good mystery.”


	5. Chapter 5

They’d traversed several corridors that were nothing more than a maze to Ianto, yet The Doctor seemed to know where she was going. They finally arrived in what seemed to be the kitchens, and The Doctor had practically jumped on the first servant she’d seen and started questioning him about the taint.

Ianto blew out an uneven breath, still trying to get his heartrate back to normal. The second he’d realized the servant was sick, even before Jack had asked the question out loud, the thought that he might have caught some kind of contagious virus or sickness had actually made him light-headed for a moment.

He honestly couldn’t remember the last time something had scared him so much, the memories of what had happened with the 456 aliens was still too fresh in his mind. Athena had been quiet, but watching him worriedly ever since. Before that she’d been flitting around the room, looking at all kinds of things and chatting away to him. She’d told him in no uncertain terms what she thought about the empress’s proposal, and what she thought about the empress herself, which had been punctuated by several swear words that had almost been funny coming out of her mouth when she looked so innocent and unassuming. He’d had to work hard not to react to Athena’s antics.

“Are you okay?” Jack turned to face him, shifting in a little, expression concerned. One of his hands settled on his hip, drawing him in.

He nodded and swallowed, to make sure his voice didn’t come out any other way than calm. “Yup. You?”

Jack gave a short laugh of relief, bring up his hand to rest on Ianto's upper chest, right over his heart. “I gotta tell you, I was worried for a second. But you’re fine. We’re fine.”

“We are,” he replied in a calm, reassuring voice, because Jack clearly needed it.

Jack pulled him into a tight hug, arms closed around him so hard it was almost cutting off his breathing. But since he was hugging Jack just as firmly, he wasn’t about to complain.

As they released one another, The Doctor came over, having finished with the servant she’d been talking to.

“Did you find out anything useful?” Jack asked as he moved around to face her.

“Hard to say. Not sure yet. Let’s go.”

“Where to now?” Jack tossed him an exasperated look, as if following The Doctor around was annoying when they both knew it wasn’t.

“Back to the reason we came here in the first place.” She glanced at him over her shoulder with an encouraging smile.

A small surge of apprehension washed through him, worried they were going to find yet another dead end. But at the same time, he couldn’t help the growing ember of hope that they were about to get some kind of answer.

Athena came over and walked on his opposite side, leaving him between her and Jack.

“Even if this Doctor Theroux can’t simply remove the biochip, I’m sure he’ll at least have some kind of information he can give us,” Athena said, sounding completely confident. Pity he knew she actually wasn’t.

“You’re not fooling me,” he murmured to her. “I know you don’t really believe that.”

She huffed at him. “I’m trying to be supportive. Stop ruining it.”

“What’s Athena up to?” Jack asked from his other side.

“She’s pretending this is going to be easy, when in fact she probably understands the biochip better than anyone and already told me it might not be possible to remove it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?” Jack asked, sounding a little worried.

“Well, we haven’t exactly had time to sit down with a coffee and catch each other up since you got here,” he replied, trying to keep his voice from becoming sharp, because if it wasn’t for Jack and the whole thing with the empress, they would have already spoken with Doctor Theroux and have some answers by now.

“Oh, I’d love a coffee right about now,” Athena said wistfully. “When do you think we’ll get back to the TARDIS?”

“Because getting back to the TARDIS to make coffee is so high on our list of priorities right now,” he replied dryly.

“It’s your own fault,” Jack said. “If you didn’t make it like sex in a cup—”

“Jack!”

Athena was almost falling over herself laughing while Jack grinned shamelessly. Lucky The Doctor had gotten a little ahead of them and not heard the comment.

“You won’t be making jokes in four days when one of us ends up in bed with the empress,” he muttered.

Most of the time, he took Jack’s caviller attitude for what it was, and knew he used that flirting charm to hide all the terrible things from his past he’d buried deep in his mind. But just occasionally, he wished Jack would bring out his serious side…

Or maybe not. When Jack was hurt and angry, he got ruthless, and it never ended well. Both for whoever was on the receiving end of his harsh actions, and Jack, because often he felt guilty after.

“Maybe _both_ of us will end up in bed with the empress.” Jack arched a suggestive eyebrow at him.

While he took a deep breath, and groped for his patience, Athena had stopped laughing and started glaring daggers at Jack.

“We need to go back to the TARDIS right now,” she said, tone tight.

“Why?” he asked, worried something was wrong.

“So I can slap him and then lock him up somewhere so he doesn’t cause you anymore problems.”

“As entertaining as that might be, I can tell you it won’t help,” he replied. “Believe me, Jack could find himself plenty of trouble in a locked empty room.”

“Don’t I know it,” Jack cut in, even though he’d only heard half of the conversation. “There was this one time when—”

“If this story has anything to do with any of your ex-lovers,” Ianto cast him a warning glance, though he knew it didn’t have much heat behind it because he usually found Jack’s outlandish stories highly entertaining. “Most specifically the empress or Captain John Hart, then I’d advise you to stop now.”

Before Jack could say anything, a pain flared in his head and Ianto pulled to a stop, white flashing in front of his eyes. The ache was stabbing like someone had jammed a nail into his skull. He braced both hands against his head and felt himself losing his balance. He came up against a solid wall of familiar smelling warmth as Jack caught him.

“Ianto? Ianto, what’s wrong? Doctor!” Jack’s voice was tense, a definite note of fear in the tone he’d never had before… before the day they’d gone to face the 456 aliens anyway.

“My head,” he managed to get out, trying to breathe through the pain that was starting to make him nauseous.

“What happened?” The Doctor asked as Jack lowered him to sit on the floor with his back against the wall.

“I don’t know, it just hit him out of nowhere.” Jack kept a supporting arm around him as The Doctor buzzed her sonic screwdriver around his head. “Like what happened back at the hub before he tried to kill me the first time. I thought Athena was blocking the chip.”

“Ianto.” The Doctor cupped his face, forcing him to focus on her, light brown eyes intense and short blond hair gleaming under the lights from above. “Where’s Athena, what’s she doing?”

He made himself look around, even though his eyes were sensitive and the brightly lit corridor was making his head pound even harder.

Athena was a few feet away, kind of hovering suspended in the air, her eyes closed, a weird aura around her. Like she was some kind of angel.

“I don’t know. She’s not doing anything. Or, maybe she is, but I don’t—”

The pain flared hotter and he had to close his eyes, clenching his teeth over the groan of agony that escaped.

“I’m taking him back to the TARDIS.” Jack got his arms underneath him and helped him up to his feet before The Doctor could say anything.

“I think that’s a good idea,” The Doctor replied. “Put him in one of the bedrooms, keep the lights low. I’m going to continue on and see Doctor Theroux. I’ll come check on him once I get back. Hopefully with some answers.”

Jack wished her good luck and then they set off. Ianto leaned heavily into Jack the entire way, mostly keeping his eyes closed because it felt like the lights were burning right through to the back of his head.

Just as thy neared the TARDIS—probably once they stepped inside the shields—Jack muttered a curse and pulled to a stop. Ianto risked opening his eyes to see Athena lying, seemingly unconscious, just in front of the doors of the TARDIS.

“Can you make it inside on your own?” Jack asked, the tone of his voice suggesting he had no idea what was going on, but didn’t like it one bit.

“I think so.” He made his legs tense as Jack gently let him go. While he shuffled around Athena and lurched in through the TARDIS doors, Jack bent down and hefted the slight weight of Athena into his arms.

Ianto only made it as far as the nearest chair and collapsed onto it, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. Jack came over and gently set Athena down next to him.

“What the hell is going on with the two of you?” Jack cast a concerned look between them.

“I don’t—”

Everything suddenly went black as his whole body went rigid. He would have pitched right off the seat if Jack hadn’t caught him, worriedly yelling his name.

But he couldn’t answer, the pain had exploded into the rest of his body in a single burst, locking all his muscles, leaving him unable to even breathe. Just as he was beginning to panic about the lack of oxygen, it all cut off again, the pain ebbing away to nothing. Even his head no longer hurt, though his thoughts were sluggish—

Thoughts, but not his memories. Rushing back in one roaring surge. His _missing_ memories. Of what had happened in that temple when the biochip had been implanted.

“Bloody John Hart!” he exclaimed, shooting upright.

Next to him, Athena had woken up and was shaking her head like trying to clear cobwebs from her mind.

Jack was still holding his shoulders, looking utterly confused and worried.

“What?” Jack tightened his hold on him.

“It was John Hart. I remember. He put the biochip in my head. He’s working for the Timeless.”

Jack actually looked hurt for a long moment, before it morphed into anger. “John did this to you.”

“It wasn’t entirely his fault. They put a biochip in him as well, so he’d do what they wanted.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to defend the man who’d only ever brought chaos and heartache whenever he’d crashed into their lives.

“That might be true, but I get the feeling that John wasn’t entirely faultless. Knowing him, he got himself into trouble trying to pull off some kind of scheme and once again it’s become my problem.”

Jack reached over to Athena and set his hand on her knee. “Are you okay?”

“Sorry, I know that wasn’t pleasant. But when Ianto mentioned John Hart, it triggered some kind of reaction in his brain where the memories had been buried. The only way to stop it was to dig the memories out, but there wasn’t a way I could do it without hurting him.”

“You got the memory back for me?” he asked in surprise.

“Did I do the wrong thing?” Her voice came out small voice like she thought they were going to get angry at her.

“No!” Ianto took her hand, sending her a tired smile. He felt completely wiped out.

“You did the right thing, Athena,” Jack assured her. He leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “Thank you for looking after him.”

Athena was blushing prettily when Jack shifted back, and he sent her a knowing smile before turning to look down at him.

“Now, no offense, Ianto, but you look like you’re about to fall asleep upright. I think it’s time I put you to bed.”

He had more than a little experience of what happened when Jack Harkness tucked someone into bed. “Jack—”

“I’m not up to anything, I promise.” Jack held up his hands, all innocence. “I just want to make sure you get some sleep.”

“You need it, Ianto.” Athena said. “You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

“What about you?” Inside the TARDIS, she was just as susceptible to getting tired, and she was looking worn out as well.

“I’m just going to hang out here until The Doctor gets back. Let Jack take you to bed.” She leaned over and winked at him. “I know you’re dying to cuddle with him.”

He felt his cheeks getting warm in an oh-so-manly blush. “Thanks. I really needed him to know that.”

Jack took his hand and pulled him to his feet. “Naked cuddling sounds like an excellent idea.”

He shot Jack an exasperated frown, leaving him laughing.

“Fine. Fully clothed cuddling.” Jack’s expression became serious. “Just let me hold you while you sleep.”

“While you stay awake and watch me because you don’t sleep? That’s not creepy at all.”

He let Jack lead him to the corridors of the TARDIS and into the first bedroom they came across. It was a nice room, decorated tastefully but simply. There were a couple of secondary school text books on a desk and a sheet of half written notes that looked like some kind of teaching plan.

Jack urged him to sit on the edge of the bed and then took off his shoes for him. He shrugged out of his jacket, finding his fingers clumsy over the buttons of his waistcoat. Jack wordlessly took over, pushing it off his shoulders once it was undone, then tugged his tie free and flicked open the top two buttons on his shirt.

Before Ianto could deter him from any further undressing, Jack had turned from him to pull the blankets back. Ianto gratefully sank against the pillow, his whole body feeling like it’d been steamrolled.

Jack had stood to dim the lights then shrug out of his military greatcoat. He sat down again to take off his own boots, followed by his blue shirt, leaving him in the white t-shirt he’d had on beneath it. By the time Jack laid down next to him, Ianto could barely keep his eyes open any longer. He rolled onto his side facing away from Jack, getting more comfortable, especially as Jack wrapped an arm around him and cuddled in close, pressing a kiss to his neck that sent a pleasant shiver rippling through him. Jack’s chest pressed against his back—exactly what he’d been longing to feel. Safe in the arms of the man he loved, Ianto let himself sink into sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack woke with a start—mostly because he didn’t remember falling asleep, or the last time he’d slept that deeply without dreaming… usually of the bad stuff.

Ianto had rolled toward him at some point and now his head was on Jack’s chest, one arm and one leg flung across him, still fast asleep.

Jack shifted subtly, feeling a little overheated and clammy. Unfortunately, it seemed Ianto was only sleeping lightly, because he quickly stirred.

“Jack?” he murmured, before stretching languidly against his side. Which only spurred Jack’s mind into the kind of things they could have been doing in this bed besides sleeping.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He leaned in and nuzzled Ianto’s neck, lightly kissing his sleep-warmed skin, smiling when he felt him shiver.

“Are you forgetting The Doctor’s no kissing rule?” Ianto asked, though he didn’t sound particularly perturbed, and he definitely wasn’t trying to stop him.

“The Doctor isn’t here. And this isn’t kissing. This is me appreciating you.”

Ianto made an incoherent noise that might have been some kind of agreement, or could have simply been him enjoying the drag of Jack’s lips over his jaw.

Reaching up, Ianto slid his hand to the back of his neck, but then pulled back suddenly.

“Jack, you’re really hot. Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine. If I’m too warm it’s because someone was draped over me like a blanket when I woke up.” Jack huffed a sigh as Ianto pushed to sit up and then pressed a hand against his forehead like a mother fussing over a toddler.

“You actually slept? For how long?” Ianto reached over and turned up the lights, looking really worried as he studied him.

“Yes, I do sleep sometimes, you know that.” He checked his watch, and then tried not to frown. “Seven hours? Can’t remember the last time I slept _that_ long.”

“I think you’re sick.” Ianto sounded somewhere between surprised and flabbergasted.

“I hardly ever get _sick_ ,” he replied like he was insulted.

“Well, I don’t know what to say, because it seems pretty obvious that you’re sick now.”

“But what—” he started, but then cut himself off as the answer occurred to him, obviously at the same time as Ianto, if the way his eyes widened was any indication.

Jack lifted his hand and checked his fingers. Sure enough, the tips were blue.

“Damn it,” he mumbled in annoyance. Looked like he was going to experience a bout of dying before the day was out.

“Jack! You’ve been poisoned like the servants!” Ianto jumped to his feet, scrambling to find his socks and shoes.

 “Apparently. You won’t mind if I stay here so when the madness hits and I start giggling and taking off my clothes, you’re the only one who sees it. And maybe Athena.” He crossed his arms and reclined back, watching Ianto’s dash to make himself decent. “I mean, usually I wouldn’t be bothered who saw. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve put on a strip show. But the giggling is kinda undignified.”

“Would you stop being so bloody blasé about this? You’re going to die in a few hours.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” he muttered. Sure, dying wasn’t fun. But he’d done it enough, they both knew the drill. At least this time he might become undead in Ianto’s arms. He’d missed that in the last nine years, waking up secure and anchored with Ianto holding him close.

“Can you get dressed already?” Ianto tossed him his shirt and then went over to gather his greatcoat. “We need to go see The Doctor.”

“We do actually.” He rolled out of the bed and then regretted it when everything spun before settling again. “She was meant to tell us what she got out of Doctor Theroux.”

Apparently, he wasn’t buttoning his shirt fast enough, because Ianto stepped closer with an impatient look and started at the top, quickly working his way down to meet him half way from where he’d begun at the bottom. Normally he wouldn’t mind Ianto attacking his shirt buttons impatiently, but that was for the times when they were undressing, not when they were doing the opposite.

He’d barely got his shirt tucked in and suspenders back in place before Ianto was holding up his coat for him.

“What’s the hurry?” he demanded with a hint of annoyance.

“The Doctor will want to know about this. And if we can work out when you were poisoned and what with, we might be able to give you an antidote before—”

Jack caught his arm since he was about to head out the door.

“Hey. It’s okay. What’s one more death?”

Ianto caught him in a fierce glare. “Do you think I like watching you die? Seeing you in agony? Waiting for you to come back and wondering if this time, whatever it is that revives you won’t work?”

For a moment, he didn’t know what to say, taken aback. He’d always known Ianto was more sensitive to him dying than anyone else ever had been in his long lifetime. But he’d assumed it was because Ianto wanted to make sure he was alright after. He’d never thought that Ianto might struggle so much with something he himself had admittedly become accustomed to.

“Ianto, why didn’t you tell me you felt like that?” He’d finally found his voice, but it’d come out rough.

“Because what would be the point?” Ianto was avoiding his gaze. “You’re the one who dies and comes back. I know the toll it takes on you, no matter how deep you try to hide it. What I feel is about me. You don’t need to be worrying about that as well.”

Jack reached up and cupped his face so he’d be forced to look at him. “What you feel isn’t just about you. It’s about me as well. I can’t change things, but I can make sure you’re okay when I come back, just like you always do for me. And Ianto?”

“What is it?” he whispered in return.

“You’ve seen some of my worst deaths. I got sucked dry by Abaddon, buried alive for almost two thousand years, killed by a Dalek—again—blown up, and encased in concrete. You know what they all had in common?”

Ianto shook his head, eyes brimming with emotion.

“Every time, I came back to you. Just like I promised. This time won’t be any different.”

Jack leaned in and kissed him gently, tasting the tears he refused to shed.

Ianto sniffed as he pulled away. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather just avoid there being a _this time_.”

“Okay, let’s go find The Doctor and see what she’s got to say about it then.” He gave him one last reassuring squeeze where he was holding him, and then let him go.

Ianto took a breath, clearly taking a moment to gather himself before he stepped out of the bedroom.

Jack trailed along after him, letting his expression slip now that Ianto was no longer looking at him. Honestly, he felt like death warmed up—and as a person intimately acquainted with death, he didn’t say that lightly. Being sick was definitely not fun.

 They came into the control room to find The Doctor leaning against the console while Athena was sitting in a chair opposite her. The two of them were chatting, and as soon as Ianto’s eyes met Athena’s his expression fell just a little.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked quietly, wrapping a hand around his elbow.

“The Doctor didn’t get any answers from Doctor Theroux,” he replied, clearly trying to hide the disappointment in his voice but not doing a very good job.

“How do you know?”

“She already told Athena and since we’re sharing one mind—”

“What she knows, you know,” Jack finished for him. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure something else out.”

“Right now, we’ve got other things to worry about. It doesn’t matter.”

Except it kind of really did matter and Jack didn’t know what else to say. Ianto pulled away from him and went to join the two women.

“Mr. Jones!” The Doctor smiled warmly at Ianto as they approached, though the expression didn’t quite reach her eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Ianto murmured. “Jack, however, is not.”

Concern edged into The Doctor’s features as she glanced at Jack. “What do you mean?”

Ianto reached down and grabbed his hand to hold it up so The Doctor could see his fingers.

“He’s been poisoned. Like the servants.”

The Doctor actually looked annoyed, like he’d gone and done it on purpose or something.

“Jack Harkness! Would it kill you to stay out of trouble for more than a few hours?” She got out her sonic screwdriver and buzzed it over his fingers, before trailing it up and down his body.

“I think in this case the question is will it kill me if I _stay_ in trouble. The answer to which is yes,” he replied in a dry voice, causing Ianto to send him a look that said it wasn’t funny.

The Doctor tapped her sonic screwdriver against her chin as she regarded him.

“Right, nothing for it.” She brushed past them and walked off like she was on a mission, only stopping to grab her coat from where it’d been discarded over a railing.

“Um,” Ianto hummed out. “Are we going somewhere?”

“To see the empress.” The Doctor answered like it should have been obvious.

“Doctor, I’m the last person she’s going to help.” And she was also the last person he wanted to see right now. Truly, he just wanted to stay on the TARDIS and wait this out. Once he was over being dead again, then they could get on with working out what they were going to do.

“That maybe so. But you owe her, Jack. And she doesn’t know you’re immortal.” The look on The Doctor’s face before she turned and pushed through the door of the TARDIS was nothing short of evil-genius.

Ianto shared a surprised glance with him, clearly unsure if he should have been impressed or worried. “Is she going to do what I think she’s going to do?”

“Hold the fact that I’m dying as ransom to get us out of the deal with the empress?” Jack answered for him. Despite how terrible he was feeling, he couldn’t help grinning. “I really hope so.”

“The two of you are diabolical.”

“Yeah, but it’s brilliant.” Jack reached over and grabbed Ianto’s arm, tugging him after The Doctor. “You coming, Athena?”

“Well, it’s not like I could stay behind if I wanted to,” Athena replied in exasperation. “Where Ianto goes, I go.”

“I really hope this doesn’t make things worse.” There was a definite note of worry in Ianto’s voice.

“The Doctor knows what she’s doing.” He caught Ianto’s eye. “You trust her, right?”

Ianto gave a decisive nod. “Of course. She saved me. Maybe things didn’t turn out perfectly, but this is the better alternative to being dead.”

Truer words had never been spoken. But once again, Jack was reminded that this second chance with Ianto had a time limit attached to it. And he didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do with that. The first time he’d lost Ianto, it’d all but broken him. He didn’t think he could do it again. But right now, he wasn’t going to think about it.

“Come on, let’s go see what The Doctor makes of this.”

Ianto was studying him, like maybe he’d seen something in Jack’s expression, but he simply murmured an agreement, walking close to Jack as they left the TARDIS with Athena a few steps behind them.


	7. Chapter 7

The Doctor was surprised at how far into the empress’s private suite they managed to get before someone took any notice of them. If the lack of security staff and servants was any indication, it seemed more people had been struck down by the taint.

As it was, the man who finally enquired who they were and what they were doing seemed hesitant when he asked, as if he wasn’t sure whether he had the right to be making demands. This time the psychic paper worked, but she also told him she was The Doctor and she had come to solve the sickness. After that, the servant was only too happy to escort them to the empress’s room.

He stopped them before they stepped through the door, however. “I have to warn you—the empress didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Know what?” The Doctor asked when he seemed uncertain as to whether or not he should continue.

“She—” He gulped nervously and leaned in closer. “She has it.”

“Has what?” she asked, apparently too loudly because the servant actually shushed her.

“The taint,” the servant whispered. “The empress has the taint. But she doesn’t want anyone to know.”

Oh. Well, that was rather unfortunate for the empress. For them, however, it gave her another bargaining chip. It was callous, she knew, to use the fact that the woman was dying as leverage to get Jack out of his troubles. What the empress didn’t realize was that she would do everything in her power to find the cause of the poison and save the empress’s life—as well as those of her remaining servants—whether the other woman let Jack out of his debt or not. However, The Doctor definitely wasn’t above using a situation to her advantage.

“We won’t tell anyone,” The Doctor assured the worried looking servant, who slumped in relief before thanking her and hurrying off.

“What was all that about?” Jack asked from where he and Ianto had hung back a few steps.

“You’ll see,” she replied, before opening the door to the empress’s room.

Inside was as richly appointed as one would expect the room of royalty. The empress was still in what looked to be her night robes, but was sitting at a table with breakfast untouched in front of her.

She frowned and straightened in her seat when she saw them, obviously trying to hide the fact she wasn’t well. She was definitely pale and looking listless compared to when they’d seen her yesterday.

“I told the servants I would not be seeing guests today.”

“We’re not guests,” The Doctor replied, walking a lap around the room with her hands behind her back, while Jack and Ianto stopped just inside the doors.

“You’re right,” the empress snapped. “One of you is my property and the other two are intruders. Leave before I change my mind about—”

“Oh, we’re not going anywhere.” The Doctor kept her voice extra cheerful as she stopped across the small table from the empress. “Tell me, Highness, how are you feeling this morning?”

The empress suddenly made herself busy, pushing uneaten food around her plate as she sniffed delicately. “Perfectly fine.”

“So, no clamminess. No dizzy spells?”

The empress narrowed her eyes, lips pinched.

The Doctor braced both hands on the edge of the table and leaned forward. “No blue tinge on your fingers?”

The empress didn’t answer, her silence nothing short of frosty.

The Doctor straightened and crossed her arms. “Because Jack has all the symptoms. Seems he’s been poisoned like your servants. And the only thing we did yesterday was be brought to have a private audience with you.”

The empress’s gaze flew to Jack in surprise. “You can’t think I had anything to do with it!”

It was true, she didn’t but she was going to press all the empress’s buttons until she twisted the situation to her advantage.

“Well, what else are we supposed to think?”

“And why would I poison him when I—” The empress snapped her mouth closed suddenly, but she’d given her hand away.

“Why would you poison Jack, when you’ve got the taint yourself?” she finished when the empress didn’t say anything else.

“What?” Jack hurried over and reached down to grab the empress’s hand. She tried to resist, but he pulled it up so her could examine her fingers.

“Dinah—” he started, a deep note of concern in his voice.

“Don’t pretend like you care.” She snatched her hand back, avoiding all of their gazes.

Jack crouched down to put himself at eye level with her. “Of course I care. Those months we spent together weren’t meaningless, not for me, at least. I might have left—”

“In a huff,” the empress interjected.

Jack sent her an unimpressed look before continuing. “I might have left when you demoted me to pet-sitting, but I did care. And I don’t want to see you die.”

“Doesn’t seem like much you can do when you’ve been poisoned as well.” She crossed her arms, sending him a condescending look. But The Doctor could see the emotion she tried to hide in her gaze. Being haughty was her mask, her coping mechanism.

“I’m going to find the answer, before either of you die,” The Doctor announced, gaining their attention. “But, in return, you’re going to let us go free. You’ll find someone else to conceive a child with.”

The empress sent Jack a thwarted glance. “That’s some rather unscrupulous dealing, even for you, Jack. Seems unfair to hold certain death over someone to get out of a debt you rightfully need to repay.”

Jack shrugged. “After I left here, I learned the hard way that the universe is rarely fair.”

The Doctor didn’t fail to miss the note of absolute bitterness in Jack’s voice. It was true, his lot had been more unfair than most.

The empress heaved a deep sigh. “It seems I don’t have a choice. But if you fail and I die, then none of you will leave this place alive.”

“Now whose being unscrupulous,” Ianto said from where he stood a few steps behind Jack.

“It won’t have anything to do with me.” The empress gave an uncaring shrug. “I’ll be dead. But my wife, the Grand Empress, will be angry. She’ll expect someone to pay for it.”

“And that has to be us?” Ianto demanded. “Gee, thanks for trying to save the empress’s life, don’t mind us while we behead you.”

Jack stood and put a calming hand on Ianto’s arm.

“You won’t be beheaded,” the empress replied airily. “It’ll be a firing squad.”

“Oh, well, that makes it so much better,” Ianto returned in a tight voice.

“Don’t worry,” Jack murmured. “We’ll fix this. Right Doctor?”

“As soon as the empress agrees to our new terms.” She knew she’d already succeeded, she just needed to hear the empress say it so that she couldn’t go back on her word later.

“Yes, alright. If you can find an antidote to the poison before I die, then I’ll let you all go free and consider Jack’s remaining debt repaid.”

“Right then!” The Doctor pushed off from the table and whirled around, mind launching into hyper-speed. “We know it’s a naturally occurring psychotropic substance, which means an organic source. Some kind of plant or something. Jack is going to be the key here because he didn’t go far or do much yesterday. We just need to retrace our steps.”

She paced, reconstruction their movements from the day before in her mind. “We’ve all been breathing the same air since we arrived here. It can’t be that because if the poison was airborne everyone would have succumbed by now. Its possible Jack touched something at some point—”

She paused to send Jack a quick glare. “You and those hands, touching stuff you shouldn’t be.”

At this, Ianto gave a short laugh. “It’s kind of the unofficial Torchwood motto.”

“We should get T-shirts made up,” Jack teased him back with a crooked grin.

“You two. Concentrate now!” She clapped her hands at them like they were naughty school children. “Jack, what have you touched since yesterday?”

Jack’s grin turned suggestive. “Well, I’ve definitely touched Ianto—”

“Jack.” Ianto’s tone was long suffering, like he knew there was no point even expending the energy over being annoyed at Jack’s usual inopportune innuendo.

“Okay, okay,” he said with a laugh, holding up both hands. “Inside the cell, I touched the walls. After that I grabbed Ianto when we were teleported, then we saw the empress and we all sat down to—”

“Eat!” The Doctor interrupted. It seemed a little obvious, to poison the food. Except then she realised it couldn’t have been the fruit. She’d eaten it was well. “Not the fruit. I had some as well. Ianto didn’t have anything at all. So, something else…”

She made her memory run through the conversation they’d had at the table. Jack had helped himself to a plate of food and then—

“The water!” She spun and pulled her sonic screwdriver out of her pocket as she closed in on the table. “You and the empress both drank the water. If it’s in the water, of course the servants are succumbing.”

Jack’s brow creased. “Surely if it was in the water, the empress would have been poisoned long before now.”

“Not necessarily,” the empress replied, watching with wide eyes as The Doctor buzzed her sonic screw driver over the jug of water on the table. “I usually drink juice or wine. Yesterday was the first time I’d drunk plain water in I don’t-know-how-long.”

“Why, because I poured it for you?” Jack shot her a wolfish smile.

“Don’t flatter yourself, I was simply being polite.”

“Bingo!” The Doctor held up her sonic screwdriver. “Naturally occurring psychotropic substance in the water. Where does this water come from?”

“There are tanks beneath the platform for all of the various stations. Three are specially reserved to service my personal quarters.”

“Three tanks. Possibly only one has been contaminated, which is why people are getting sick erratically.”

“So, we go down and check out the tanks, right?” Jack said.

The Doctor nodded as she slipped her sonic screwdriver away. “To hopefully find some trace of how or what the tank was contaminated with. Empress, we’ll be back as soon as possible.”

The empress nodded, looking tired all of a sudden. “I’ll be waiting here.”

The Doctor sent her a reassuring nod and then led Jack and Ianto out of the room.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Jack cast a worried glance back as the door swung shut behind them. He wasn’t looking so good himself, truth be told. His illness had progressed, and the skin beneath his eyes was beginning to darken and bruise.

“I think we better hurry,” she said in way of answering.

As she turned away, she caught the worry in Ianto’s expression. Despite the fact that they knew Jack would come back and be fine, she could tell that Ianto didn’t want to have to watch him die first. Or perhaps it was partly the sword hanging over their heads of what would happen if they failed and the Grand Empress caught up with them in retribution. Either way, time was swiftly running out to find the answer.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack was trying to keep himself composed as he and Ianto followed The Doctor down into the lowest levels of the ship where the water tanks were apparently located. The dizziness was getting worse, and his coat felt like it was suffocating him.

He reached up to wipe at the sweat gathering on his brow, and caught Ianto looking at him in concern.

“Are you okay? You’re not looking very good.”

“Now that’s a first. Can’t remember you ever telling me I don’t look good. Usually it’s the opposite, actually.” He tossed Ianto a smile, trying to cover up the truth of how bad he was feeling, but from the way Ianto frowned, it seemed he wasn’t doing a very good job. And then a stronger wave of dizziness hit him, and he stumbled his next step.

Ianto muttered an exclamation and stepped in to catch him.

“Jack—”

“I’m fine.” He forced himself to stop and straighten to get his equilibrium back. “I need to see this through.”

“I think you need to lay down.” Ianto wouldn’t give up his hold on him, even though he tried to pull out of his grasp.

He took a steadying breath. “I’ll be okay, Ianto. It’s Dinah we need to help now.”

Ianto didn’t look very impressed with that, but carefully let him go.

“If you get worse, please, tell me so I can help you.”

Jack nodded, attempting to send him a reassuring look. “Come on.”

They set off again, hurrying to catch up with The Doctor who’d drawn ahead of them while they’d been talking.

It was maybe twenty minutes later when they finally came to a stop outside a door, unable to go any further.

“Locked,” The Doctor muttered, stepping back to survey the door control panel that was flashing red. She took out her sonic screwdriver while Jack tried to not make a big deal of leaning against the wall. The Doctor cut him a sideways glance. “Are you okay there, Captain?”

“Are the tanks on the other side of this door?” he asked instead of answering. The walk down seemed to have sapped what little energy he’d woken up with.

The Doctor held up her sonic screwdriver to examine it. “Yes, they are. But this door has been quantum sealed. It’s going to take me a little while to get through.”

Great, just what he wanted to hear.

Ianto was staring at him in concern. “Jack, let me take you back to the TARDIS.”

Truthfully, he was fading fast and it’d be the smart thing to do, but he hated the thought of leaving The Doctor alone to fix things. Not that he didn’t think she was capable, just that it was always a good idea to have some back up and an extra pair of hands.

“Doctor, what if you need—”

“I’ll be fine, Jack.” The Doctor settled a stern look on him. “If it makes you feel better, send Ianto back down once he gets you settled. But honestly, you look dead on your feet and you’re clearly in no condition to help anyone right now.”

Ianto came over and took his arm, gently pulling him away from the wall and taking his weight.

“Looks like you’ve both already made up your minds for me,” he grumbled, leaning heavily on Ianto because it suddenly seemed like he couldn’t hold himself up any longer.

“Well someone has to,” Ianto muttered. He sent The Doctor a quick glance. “I’ll be back as soon as I get him into bed.”

“Hmm. You get me into bed, Ianto Jones, it’s going to be a fair while before The Doctor sees you again.”

Ianto sighed in exasperation as they started walking away. “Even half dead, you still can’t help yourself.”

“Nope, especially around you.” He grinned at Ianto, but knew it was weak at best. The dizziness just kept getting worse, until he wanted to close his eyes and not opening them again.

“Even with your admittedly impressive stamina, Jack, right now I doubt you’ll be doing much besides sleeping once you’re in bed.”

He didn’t have a comeback for that, because Ianto was undoubtedly right. His limbs were aching and his head was starting to pound. Poisons that worked slow like this were the worst—and he should know, he’d been poisoned a few times, unfortunately. The ones that were instant were usually brutal, but he figured it was better to get dying over with, rather than it dragging out for hours on end.

Their progress up onto the main platform where they’d the TARDIS went a lot slower than when they’d followed The Doctor down. When they stepped into the shields of the ship, Athena appeared, her expression tight with worry as she hurried ahead to open the doors for them. Probably because he was leaning more and more heavily on Ianto.

Ianto led him back to the bedroom they’d slept in and paused to help him out of his coat.

“I’ll go get some cold water,” Athena offered.

“And some cloths, if you can find them,” Ianto replied as he helped Jack gently lay down on the bed.

Once he sunk into the mattress, relief washed through him at not having to be upright and expend the energy moving around anymore. He should have listened to Ianto and come back a lot sooner. He’d probably hastened the poison in his system from stubbornly marching around the platform and pretending he was fine.

Ianto unbuttoned his shirt and then urged him to move far enough to take it off. But then that wasn’t enough. He was hot and uncomfortable and needed cool air on his skin. He half sat up and threw off the white shirt he always wore beneath his button shirts.

“We’re not up to the strip-tease part of the sickness already, are we?” Though Ianto had clearly been trying to keep his voice light and teasing over the joke, Jack caught the apprehension underscoring it.

“No, I’m just hot, that’s all.”

“This should help,” Athena said as she returned with a tray bearing a jug of ice water, a glass and a stack of cloths.

“Thanks,” Ianto murmured. As soon as Athena set the tray on the bedside table, Ianto poured a glass of water, while Athena wet one of the clothes.

Ianto helped him sit up and he gulped the cold water down, not realising how thirsty he’d been until that moment. Athena went around to the opposite side of the bed and climbed up next to him, gently setting the cloth against his forehead and he dropped back against the pillows again. Meanwhile, Ianto wet a second cloth, then laid it against his neck.

“Wow, I should get sick more often,” he murmured in a teasing tone. “I like being spoiled by the two of you.”

Ianto sent him an exasperated frown. “I’d really rather you didn’t. Because this might be fun for you, but there’s two people worth of worry in my head right now, which is much harder to keep calm about than just my own.”

He reached out and took Ianto’s hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll be okay. I just need to sleep. Why don’t you head back out and help The Doctor?”

“But what if I’m not here when you—” Ianto swallowed, gripping his fingers tightly. “I don’t want you to go through that alone.”

“I’ve been doing it without you for nine years.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Ianto’s expression became stricken.

Jack pushed to sit upright, despite the dizziness, bringing himself eye-level with Ianto.

“Why did we do it, Jack?” Ianto’s voice broke over the words, eyes growing wet.

“Do what?” He reached up and cupped Ianto’s face.

“Walk into Thames House without any real plan. The 456 aliens threatened the Earth with a virus the first time you dealt with them in 1965. We should have realized they’d have something like that up their sleeve again. We should have thought things through, had more than empty demands when we faced them. Because then maybe I wouldn’t have died. Maybe we wouldn’t have lost those nine years—”

Jack pulled Ianto against him, clutching him tightly, heart pounding.

“I’ve asked myself that question a hundred times a day, every day for weeks, and months, and years. I’ve never regretted anything the way I regretted taking you to your death that day. I failed you, and I failed myself. Then I failed my daughter and my grandson even worse.”

His voice caught as the lump in his throat swelled too much for him to talk around anymore.

“But you saved the world again. You saved the rest of the children.” Ianto’s voice was muffled from where he had his face pressed against Jack’s shoulder. He could feel tears dripping down his chest, each one creating a new crack in his heart.

“I don’t care. The cost was too much.”

Ianto pulled back, gaze searching his, not bothering to wipe his damp face.

“You don’t mean that,” he whispered.

“I do. If I could go back, I’d change it all. Every decision I made. I’d rather live with the guilt of the horrible fate those millions of children would have endured, rather than the pain of losing you and my entire family. Part of my soul died that day, Ianto. And it won’t matter what I do, it won’t ever get better. Not when I sacrificed my own flesh and blood because I was so furious and broken over the fact they’d killed you.”

Ianto shook his head in denial. “And if two of those kids had been my niece and nephew?”

“I would have made sure they were safe,” he replied through a clenched jaw. He could see it in Ianto’s expression, he didn’t want to hear this. But it was the truth. This was the man he really was. No hero. Just a selfish conman who’d gotten swept up in the ideals of The Doctor and thought it had changed him. Thought that he himself could make a difference in the universe.

“No, Jack, you would have hated yourself.” Ianto finally reached up and swiped his tears away angrily.

“I still would have had you. I still would have had my family. And you know I’ve done it before. Handed over children. I did it in 1965. I did it with the fairies and little Jasmine—”

“Those situations were different!” Ianto pulled out of his hold, anger tightening the lines of his shoulders. “The man you are, Jack—”

“This is the man I am, Ianto!” He thumped on his own chest. “You can’t even imagine the horrible things I’ve done. Things you would hate me for!”

“Why are you saying this?” Fresh tears tracked down Ianto’s cheeks.

“Because it’s the truth. And it’s time you saw it. Saw the real me. This is the man you love. I’m worse than half the beings I’ve killed in the name of Torchwood and protecting the Earth.” Jack grabbed his shoulders so he could stare him in the eye. “And you know what? If that doesn’t scare you, then I don’t know what would. Because it sure as hell scares me. I’d watch an entire planet burn if it meant saving you. _That’s_ how much I love you.”

Ianto rose unsteadily to his feet. “You’re not well. You need to get some rest.”

“Ianto—” He’d pushed him too far, he could see it in the hurt shadowing his blue eyes. But he hadn’t been able to hold it inside any longer.

He’d hated himself for the realisations he’d come to after that nightmarish day he’d faced down the 456 aliens. It’d torn down the flimsy façade he’d put up to hide his real self. The guilt had been almost worse than the self-loathing, because he hadn’t been able to do anything to change it. Oh, he tried. He’d gone out into the galaxy looking for a way to alter the timeline, even knowing what the consequences would be, but he hadn’t been able to find a solution, and eventually he’d returned to Earth to deal with the Miracle Day situation, deciding if he had to atone for his sins in some way, then Ianto would have wanted him to continue protecting Earth. Keep playing the hero even though it felt hollow at best.

But now Ianto was here, he was alive and whole. And once again, Jack was hurting him, the same way he’d hurt him by pulling back in their relationship in the days and weeks before he’d died. Because the depth of his own feelings had started scaring him. He loved Ianto. He couldn’t bear the thought of being without him. Except he was also terrified of where it was all going to end up. He knew where it was all going to end and no matter what he did, he would never be able to escape that fate.

“It’s fine,” Ianto held out a hand to stay him when he would have gotten up. “Just lay down and try to get some sleep. I’ll come and check on you when I get back with The Doctor.”

Before he could say anything, Ianto leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, lips lingering just a little longer than Jack expected, before he sniffed and then straightened to hurry out of he room. Athena—who’d moved to stand near the door at some point and he hadn’t noticed—cast him one last sorrowful look, before chasing after Ianto.

Jack dropped back onto the pillows and closed his eyes, finally letting a few tears slip free. He wasn’t the man Ianto had left nine years ago. He wasn’t the man Ianto deserved. And maybe he never had been.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tissue warning for the end of this chapter. Unplanned angst.

Ianto blindly walked out of the bedroom, getting to the console room of the TARIDS before Athena caught up with him. She gently took his arm and pulled him to a stop. He’d turned and gathered her against her before he’d even thought about it.

They stood there hugging each other tightly as the hurt, confusion and sorrow ebbed back and forth between them. In this case, it was both a blessing and a curse that they could feel each other’s emotions. Because Ianto couldn’t get a handle on all the pain battering him and he hated that Athena had to experience it as well. But at the same time, she was radiating calm and affection to him, trying to soothe the tumultuous emotions as best she could.

“I’m sorry, Ianto,” she whispered after a few long minutes, when he was finally starting to pull himself back together.

He wanted to disregard Jack’s words, wanted to say it was the poison talking and he hadn’t really meant any of it. That he wouldn’t have really chosen to sacrifice millions of children if it had meant saving him. But he knew Jack. He’d seen Jack’s utter ruthlessness. He was quite aware that Jack was capable of things he didn’t want to imagine.

Ianto could see what Jack was doing. The same thing Jack had done in the weeks before he’d died—push him away. The worst thing was, he understood why and he’d let Jack do it, thinking they’d have time to sort it all out later. But they hadn’t. He’d died in Jack’s arms and then Jack had lived nine years without him.

There was very little that frightened Jack Harkness in this universe, and though Ianto knew he’d never admit it, Jack was running scared from loneliness. From the way he’d ended up alone over and over. The inevitability of him ending up alone for eternity.

Their relationship had become serious. They’d fallen in love with each other. Ianto had guessed that with the knowledge he’d eventually loose him one way or another, Jack had been pulling back in their relationship to shield himself from the eventually devastation, even if it wasn’t logical for the fact they were already so deeply involved. Of course, neither of them had realised that devastation would come so soon.

The method might have been different, but Ianto had no doubt Jack was doing the same thing again. Except this time, he was trying to make Ianto be the one to pull back, by painting himself as the monster. He wasn’t completely blind. He knew Jack wasn’t perfect. He was quite aware that Jack had done things in his past that he would no doubt find abhorrent. But he loved him anyway. The fact that Jack had tried and wanted to become a better person had been enough for him.

But maybe Jack was right. What were they really doing? He could see the weariness in Jack’s expression that hadn’t been there nine years ago. The permanent shadows of pain in his eyes. He was partly responsible for those because he’d left Jack, even if it hadn’t been in his control. There was no getting around the fact that eventually he would die again and Jack would have no choice but to go on without him, just as he’d already done once before.

The last thing he wanted was to hurt Jack. But that was exactly what would happen. He had no right to ask anything of Jack, especially to ask him to put himself in a position that would eventually see his heart broken. Indeed, from that perspective, it left him feeling selfish over the fact that he loved Jack so deeply and desperately wanted nothing more than to be with him.

Now wasn’t the time to keep thinking about it. He needed to get down and help The Doctor. With a deep breath, he released Athena and stepped back.

“Thank you,” he said in a low, uneven voice. The words didn’t convey how glad he was that she’d been here, that he wasn’t going through this alone. It was strange, sharing his mind with another sentient being, but he couldn’t say he was sorry about it. Fortunately, it didn’t matter if the words themselves were inadequate, because Athena knew exactly how grateful he was.

She sent him a small smile. “I’d stay here and keep an eye on him for you if I could, but you and I are kind of stuck together.”

“He’ll be okay.” And it was true. Jack would be okay. He had to be, because with his immortal life, he had all the time in the universe to heal from things, even if he thought otherwise. He just didn’t know if _they_ would be okay. Or if he himself would be okay by the time everything was said and done. He reached out and Athena set her hand in his. “Come on, we better go see how The Doctor is getting on with that locked door.”

They left the TARDIS and made their way back down to the lowest level of the ship where they’d left The Doctor.

“Ah, Mr Jones. You’re just in time.” The Doctor was still working on the door, but from her words, she must have been close to getting through. “How was the patient when you left him?”

“A right git,” he muttered before he thought better of it.

The Doctor glanced at him, a hint of sympathy in her expression. “I can’t imagine Jack Harkness would be the easiest person to deal with when he’s sick. It must happen so rarely.”

“Almost never,” he replied. There’d only been one other time since he’d known Jack, when he’d purposefully infected himself with the Good Thinking virus.

“Doesn’t mean he has to be a sodding twat about it,” Athena muttered darkly.

Ianto couldn’t help being amused at Athena’s use of colloquialisms despite the fact she was a sentient ship from another planet.

The door cracked open with a whoosh of air and The Doctor put her sonic screwdriver away with a triumphant look.

The Doctor went to step forward, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. If Torchwood had taught him one thing, it was that caution never went astray.

“We should step carefully.” He was wishing he’d asked Jack for his gun, even if The Doctor didn’t agree with them.

“I’ll go first and tell you whether the way is clear,” Athena offered, already slipping through the gap.

“Athena is going to check things out,” he told The Doctor, who nodded her agreement.

They waited a few moments in silence until Athena returned.

“There’s no one here, but you’re going to want to see this.” Athena had already turned to head back through the door before he could reply.

“She said it’s safe,” he belatedly told The Doctor since he’d already started following Athena, curious, because her thoughts were confused and a little awed.

When he stepped up to the large, see-through tanks, he could see why. There were dozens of tanks, stretching off in all directions. But the one about four tanks down was shimmering, something moving within.

They got closer, and when he stopped right in front of the glass, he finally realised what he was looking at.

“Fish.” He glanced at The Doctor. “There are fish in here.”

They were nothing short of amazing—silvery, but shimmering with a kind of rainbow of colours as they moved. And they were kind of glowing.

“Of course,” The Doctor murmured like it was all so obvious, eyes roaming over the tank.

“Of course its fish? Sure, that totally makes sense.”

The Doctor pointed a finger at him without looking at him. “Sass, Mr Jones.”

“Then would you mind explaining?” He tried to keep the impatience out of his voice. Would he ever get used to the fact that The Doctor seemed to take for granted that no on else had seen or done at much as she had and knew everything. Which actually sort of galled him, considering at Torchwood he’d always prided himself on being the one who knew everything.

“Bio-luminescent starfire fish from Klon-Maxus.”

“Of course they are,” he replied in a dry voice. 

The Doctor actually gave a quick laugh before turning to him. “They excrete a psychotropic substance to confuse any predators long enough for them to escape being eaten. In small quantities, it can make a person feel a bit loopy. And actually, on more than a few planets, they’re farmed for recreational drugs. But in this concentration? They become deadly. How has no one noticed this before now?”

“Probably the quantum sealed door for starters,” he said in return.

“Quite right.” The Doctor crossed her arms as she considered the fish.

“So, now that you know what’s causing it, you can make an antidote, right?” They could save the empress and save Jack from dying for once.

“I can.” The Doctor’s words came out sounding hesitant.

“But?” he prompted when it seemed like she wasn’t going to say anything else.

“But possibly not in time to save them.” A determined expression settled over The Doctor’s features. “I’m going to try, though.”

“Should we go and tell the empress. If she knows we’re making an antidote, it’ll giver her a reason to keep fighting.” Considering how bad Jack had gotten, he could only imagine the empress might be worse.

“Yes, but we need to be quick. I have to get back to the TARDIS and start right away.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

Ianto turned at the voice coming from behind him to see the servant—Gerrit?—the one who’d died when they’d first spoken to the empress and found out about the taint. At least, they’d thought that he’d died. Obviously, they’d been wrong.

The man was pointing some kind of slim pistol-looking weapon at them.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” The Doctor didn’t seem nearly worried enough about this turn in events.

“I had to escape before she found out the truth.” The gun wavered slightly, and Ianto could see the man was sweating, gaze darting nervously around. No criminal mastermind then. And if he’d survived, then it had to mean he had an antidote.

“The truth that you poisoned all those poor servants, and then you poisoned the empress.” The Doctor tsked at him and shook her head like he was a naughty kid.

“It wasn’t meant to happen like this!” The man gulped a breath, seeming like he was on the verge of panic.

“An accident, was it?” Ianto eased forward, holding up his hands. “Why don’t you put the gun down and we’ll talk about it?”

“It won’t make a difference! I’ll still be sentenced to life on the Orilion penal moon!”

“We can help you.” Ianto shuffled a few steps closer, trying to get within reach of the gun, even though his heart was pounding crazily in his chest. Jack would never forgive him if he got shot. Or lasered. Or whatever the hell that weapon did.

“No one can help me now.” The man’s voice cracked over the words, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. And he suddenly seemed to notice that Ianto was getting closer, because he turned the gun to aim directly at him. “Stay where you are! Don’t come any closer!”

Ianto froze, but frustration was beginning to burn through him. While they were dealing with this, they were wasting time they could be using to deal with the antidote.

“Fine.” Ianto pulled himself straighter, trying to appear confident in a way he certainly wasn’t feeling. “But you might as well put the gun down. You see, there’s three of us, and our friend is standing right behind you, holding a gun at the back of your head.”

He shot Athena a significant look, but she was already moving. Of course, he kept forgetting that she was in his head and knew what he was planning.

“I’m not going to fall for that.” The man scoffed. “There was three of you, but your friend in the coat was poisoned, just like the empress. I know he’s not here.”

“I wasn’t talking about him.” Ianto gave a slight smile as Athena stopped behind the man.

A flash of doubt crossed the servant’s face and he shifted slightly, but didn’t look around.

“You’re bluffing,” he said, though he didn’t sound sure.

“Am I?” He returned in a calm voice that he knew would keep chipping away at the man’s unctainty.

“Ianto, he has two moles on the back of his neck, just above the collar of his shirt.”

“If there’s no one behind you, then how do I know you’ve got two moles on the back of your neck?” Ianto took a step forward, not even trying to be subtle about it.

“And he has some kind of small square case in his back pocket,” Athena continued.

“You’ve also got a small square case in your back pocket,” Ianto repeated, taking another step. “Let me guess, the antidote, right?”

The man finally spun around to look and Ianto took his chance, leaping forward to wrench the gun out of the man’s hands and then knock him backwards.

Charging forward, Ianto leaned down and grabbed the man’s shirt collar, hauling him up far enough to press the gun under his chin.

“Give me the antidote,” he said in a hard, angry voice.

“Mr Jones, restraint,” The Doctor cautioned, stepping up next to him.

The man fumbled to pull the small case out of his back pocket. Ianto took it and then let him go to slump to the floor.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” the man sobbed. “They were just supposed to act strange and infuriate the empress when they couldn’t perform their duties properly. No one was meant to die.”

“You put too many fish in the tanks,” The Doctor surmised, a hint of sympathy in her tone.

“Not at first, but they began breeding so quickly and I didn’t realize what would happen.” The man was practically blubbering now.

“Why did you do it in the first place?” Ianto demanded, not feeling all that sorry for him. Not when Jack was up in the TARDIS suffering right this minute.

“The Grand Empress. She paid me. She wanted the High Empress to get sick of being here and go home.”

The Doctor shook her head with an unimpressed expression. “And it would have been too simple for them to simply talk to one another.”

Ianto turned to look at The Doctor. He’d heard enough. “We need to get this to Jack and the empress right away.”

The Doctor nodded and slipped the case from his hands to flip it open. But then her expression froze and Ianto’s heart stopped in his chest.

“What’s wrong?”

She raised her eyes to stare at him, an apology in every line of her features. “There’s only one dose. I’m sorry, Ianto.”

Furious anger surged within him, but he clenched his fists and kept his expression neutral. “Then you need to get it up to the empress right away.”

“But Jack—”

“Will be fine.” Jack had said it himself. What was one more death? “Go. I’m going to head back to the TARDIS to sit with him until— until he’s better.”

The Doctor pulled him in for a tight hug. “You’re an amazing person, Ianto Jones. I’m glad I saved you from the 456.”

Before he could reply, she’d slipped out of his arms and hurried off in a flurry of quick footsteps, her coat flaring out slightly behind her. He was left standing there, blinking rapidly, trying unsuccessfully to swallow down his emotions.

“Are you alright?” Athena asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” he answered her honestly. “Let’s just get back to the TARDIS.”

They left the servant still on the ground crying. Maybe he should have done something to make sure the man was brought to justice, but he doubted the guy would be able to get off the platform without someone noticing, since he was meant to be dead.

Neither of them said anything else as they hurried back up to the TARDIS and through to the bedroom where they’d left Jack. He was sitting up against the headboard, arms wrapped around his knees, holding them to his chest.

He pulled up short at the sight. “Jack?”

Jack looked up, his face was wet with tears. “They always leave me. Always. Everyone. Over and over.”

“I think he’s reached the hallucination stage,” Athena said, her voice catching slightly.

He’d been expecting Jack to get even more exuberant by this stage, like the servant had; taking off his clothes and making ridiculous jokes. The empress had said others got angry. But of course, he should have realised that Jack might just crumble from all of the things he carried inside him.

Ianto hurried over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Jack, it’s okay, I’m here.” He started to reach out, but Jack flinched away from him.

“ _No_. Not you. You left me as well. You went away and it broke me.” Jack’s breathing was getting choppier, the tears falling faster. Ianto’s entire body was aching for him.

“But it wasn’t you,” Jack continued voice cracking. “It was me. I did it. All my fault. I killed you.”

“No, Jack.” He couldn’t stand it anymore. He climbed on the bed and gathered Jack against him, even though he weakly tried to resist. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Jack had said the same thing to him as he lay dying from the 456 virus. After all these years, he still believed it.

“It wasn’t your fault, Jack,” he repeated, willing him to believe it. Tears were clogging his own throat as he rocked Jack, trying to soothe him. “And I’m sorry I left. I didn’t want to. I’ll never want to. I’d spend eternity with you if I could.”

“But it’s a curse.” Jack pulled back far enough to stare up at him, gaze surprisingly lucid. “If you lived forever, you’d be cursed, just like me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially someone I loved.”

He cupped Jack’s face in his palm. “If I could take this pain for you. If I could switch places with you, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d rather suffer a million years of torment, than see you hurting for even one day.”

“Ianto, I don’t deserve you,” Jack whispered, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Yes, you do, Jack. But you don’t deserve to be heartbroken over and over again, ending up alone lifetime after lifetime. And I hate that I can’t do anything about it. That I caused you so much pain when I died. That eventually one day I’m going to hurt you again.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jack said, repeating his words back to him. “But I don’t know if I’m strong enough to love you anymore.”

Ianto’s heart slammed painfully against the inside of his chest. He wanted to say it was just the poison talking. But it was the one truth he hadn’t wanted to face, the truth they’d been hurtling toward ever since the first moment he’d realized he was falling in love with Jack and that maybe Jack felt the same way. 

That no matter what they felt, what they did, what they chose, there was no escaping the fact that they were doomed to end up apart.

Jack suddenly went rigid in his arms, having some kind of convulsion. Was this it, the poison had finally finished with him? Jack made a pained nose, and Ianto tightened his hold.

“It’s okay, Jack, I’ve got you. Just let go. I’ll be here when you get back.”

As if he’d been waiting for permission, Jack let out a long breath and then went lax. He didn’t inhale again. He was gone.

Even though he knew Jack would be fine in a matter of minutes or hours, depending on how long it took his body to heal from the poison, a sob rose up in his chest, and he couldn’t hold in his emotions any longer. And then Athena was suddenly next to him, arms around them both. 

Ianto cradled Jack and cried until his head started aching and his eyes were sore. He cried for himself and all he’d lost when he’d succumb to the 456 alien virus, and he cried for Jack facing an eternity of loneliness and heartbreak he could never escape from. Mostly he cried because he’d come to realise that his love for Jack was as much of a curse as his immortality.


	10. Chapter 10

Jack woke with a calm inhale—much like he had after coming back from the virus the 456 aliens had used. He had a second of panic, thinking he was back there, that Ianto was gone. Reliving the moment he’d suffered one of the worst blows in all of his long lifetimes.

But then he registered the soft bed underneath him, plus the way he was resting against the warm body breathing steadily next to him and everything came back at once. Ianto, and The Doctor, and Athena, and the empress.

He lifted his head from Ianto’s shoulder to look at him. He was asleep, but his brow was creased and his features were drawn down, like he was troubled. Clearly unsettled even in sleep. Ianto was actually lying against Athena, who was absently stroking his hair as she stared off into space. However, when Jack pushed up right, she glanced over at him.

“You’re back, I see.” Her voice was a little hoarse.

“Like always,” he murmured, reaching over to trace a light finger along Ianto’s jaw. Everything in the hours before he’d succumb to the poison was kind of hazy. But he remembered some of it. Remembered enough. All the hurt and uncertainty that had come pouring out.

“Is he okay?”

Athena gave a wan smile. “I think he will be. He cried himself to sleep, but I think he needed to let everything out, you know? A lot has happened to him a in short amount of time. And I need to take some of the blame for that as well.”

Jack’s heart clenched in his chest at the thought of Ianto crying until he fell asleep. Damn it, he hadn’t been there to hold him. The one time Ianto needed him instead of the other way around, and he hadn't been here. 

“You were just trying to survive,” he replied in a ragged voice. “If we’re going to start assigning blame, then most of it probably needs to sit squarely on me. Me and Torchwood.”

“How about we just stop blaming ourselves and each other and move on?” Ianto’s voice was husky, but no less firm as he opened his eyes and then sat up.

“How are you feeling?” Jack asked cautiously.

Ianto sent him a reticent smile. “I think I’m meant to be asking you that. You did just die from poison, after all.”

“Not the first time and probably not the last. I always survive. I just need to know that you’re okay. What I said—”

“We don’t have to do this.” Ianto held up a hand to cut him off.

“Do what?”

“Tell me it was just the poison and hallucinations talking, and you didn’t really mean any of it. Then I agree even though I don’t believe it. Then we just shove it into the compartment we put all the other stuff in our relationship that we don’t talk about and move on like nothing happened.”

With each word, Ianto sounded angrier. Angry and adorable. Jack couldn’t help laughing, even though he knew it would possibly only make him more furious.

“What?” Ianto demanded, crossing his arms.

“I’m sorry, it’s not funny, not really. But it’s one of those laugh or cry situations, and I think we’ve done enough crying.”

Ianto’s expression softened and he dropped his arms. “Yeah, we have.”

Jack set a hand on his shoulder and drew him in, catching his mouth in a tender kiss before pulling back and resting their foreheads together, just breathing in sync with each other for a long moment.

“Athena said you cried yourself to sleep.” Guilt over that was a pit in his stomach.

 “I cried _and then_ I fell asleep.” Ianto shifted back and looked over his shoulder to where Athena was still sitting, propped up against the headboard. He reached out and she put her hand in his with an affectionate smile. “I was okay, because Athena was here. But it’s been a long couple of days.”

“It’s been a long couple of years,” Jack murmured in return.

Ianto pulled Athena into him and wound an arm around her shoulder. She settled against him like they’d known each other for years, not a few weeks.

“What are we going to do, Jack?”

He wished he could pretend he didn’t know what Ianto was talking about. But it was long past the point where they could deny the pitfalls of their relationship any longer.

“I honestly don’t know,” he replied in a raw voice.

“You said you didn’t know if you were strong enough to love me anymore.” Ianto’s voice came out quiet, but no less intense.

“Did I?” He remembered feeling that way, but didn’t remember actually saying it. “The only two things I know for sure are one; that I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. And two; I’m terrified what that’s going to mean for me when I have to let you go again.”

Ianto drew in a sharp breath, a hint of surprise in his expression. “The only two things I know are that I love you, so much, Jack. And that I’m starting to worry that in the long run, my love is going to do nothing but hurt you.”

He nodded, his eyes stinging. But he stubbornly blinked back the tears.

“Jack,” Athena said gently, her hand slipping over his and then gripping his fingers. “You can’t go through eternity keeping yourself separate, not letting yourself love anyone. It’s like living in an echo. It was my entire existence until Ianto came along. I could see all the people I cared for experiencing all these emotions and could never feel them myself.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise,” he replied, focusing on Athena and amazed by her all over again.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I wish I had an answer to solve this for the two of you. All I know is that if you ask me, if it’s a choice between feeling nothing, or feeling everything, even the pain, I know which I’d take. Which would make me human.”

It might not have been an answer, but Athena’s words resonated with him. He was kidding himself if he thought he could walk away from Ianto. He’d rather love him now and deal with the pain later, when the other choice was being without him.

“And you,” she said, turning to frown at Ianto. “Would you stop feeling guilty about how much you love him? Just accept that you’re completely, hopeless, entirely his and if he didn’t want it that way, he wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Jack laughed as Ianto looked appropriately chastised by her words.

“Now,” Athena said, an impish smile crossing her features. “Kiss and make up. Properly this time.”

“Athena,” Ianto said in a long-suffering voice.

“We should do what she says,” he told Ianto, managing to keep a straight face. “I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of terrified of her.”

“Terrified of who?” The Doctor asked as she strolled into the room.

“Athena,” both he and Ianto answered at the same time.

“Smart boys,” The Doctor said with a sage nod.

“Wait,” it suddenly occurred to him that if he’d died, and the empress had been poisoned at the same time as him—

“What happened to Dinah?” he demanded, cutting a panicked glance between Ianto and The Doctor.

“Oh, she’s fine. We got an antidote for her.” The Doctor waved her hand like it was nothing.

“Did you, now?” So they’d managed to get an antidote for the empress, but not for him? Not that it mattered to him, he was fine. But it had mattered to Ianto, which kind of annoyed him.

“We’re free to leave,” The Doctor continued, watching them as if she was waiting for something.

“And Doctor Theroux was definitely a dead end?” He had to make sure, even though they’d briefly already discussed it.

“He was quite interested in the biochip, but was unable to give me any direct answer about its removal without extensive study that could take years. Time that he doesn’t have, considering his age and health.”

“But you said you had other contacts to try, right?” Athena put in with a positive tone to her words, always the optimist.

“Yes, there are always others. Next stop, I’m thinking Kolaris Wexil Three—”

“There’s an obvious answer we’re all missing,” he interjected, gaining everyone’s attention. “Since Ianto got his memory back of how the chip was implanted.”

“Jack, no.” Ianto said in a hard voice he very rarely used.

“Ianto, yes,” he shot back. “John Hart did this to you. He’s working with the Timeless. He has to know something about it.”

“Don’t you think if he knew anything about it, he would have gotten his own chip removed instead of doing what they order him to do?” Ianto crossed his arms, a flush of anger coloring his cheeks.

“Actually, no.” The Doctor put in. “You’re forgetting that your chip wasn’t working properly in the first place and now Athena is blocking it. John Hart could very well know how to remove the chip, but the simple fact would be that his own chip would be overriding all of his compulsions, leaving him unable to do it or ask anyone else to do it for him. The chip would simply force him not to.”

“It’s settled then,” Jack inflected his tone with a note of finality, the one he always used on his Torchwood Team when they were reluctant to carry out a mission. “We’re going to find John Hart.”

Ianto heaved a sigh, looking up as if searching for divine intervention. “Bloody hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episode 5 Coming Soon - Using Jack's vortex manipulator, the team track down John Hart without too much trouble. But of course, John Hart isn't anything, if not unpredictable. He seems willing to help them, but can they trust him? Or will he just turn them over to the Timeless?


End file.
